Let’s Get Buttered Up!

One of my uncles likes to tease me with the story of how as a child, I would sneak into the refrigerator to take bites out of the butter.

My love affair with the stuff clearly started early!

While I won’t go so far as to say that I eat it on a daily basis, very few days go by where butter doesn’t pass my lips in some form or another.

It is my believe that a life with butter is simply better.

While Canadian Thanksgiving was almost a week ago and I’ve already shared two recipes that are Thanksgiving classics in my family, I thought I’d share one more.

I came up with this recipe a few years ago when I decided that I wanted to serve a dressed-up butter with the fresh rolls that I was making for Thanksgiving.

I’ve always loved roasted garlic spread on bread and it wasn’t too long before I did the simple math and added the roasted garlic to the butter to come up with a truly wondrous thing. Because I adore chives, I thought I’d throw in a few of those to add colour and bite. I experimented with salted butter but have always found that salted butter is overly salty. So instead I returned to sweet butter to which I add a bit of salt just to give the faintest hint of saltiness. It compliments the sweetness of the roasted garlic so well.

This butter couldn’t be easier to make. It stores well in the freezer so you can have it on hand for guests or simply for yourself. Slather it on some warm bread and know the beauty of butter.

I say we all get buttered up!

Ciao!

Roasted Garlic Butter with Chives

Note: I make this in one cup portions (1 cup of butter is the equivalent of 2 sticks of butter). I roll the butter up in parchment paper and then wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it for up to a month. Trust me. It won’t even last that long.

For the roasted garlic, follow a recipe such as this one or you can make it the way I do. Take 2 heads of garlic and cut off about one-third of the top of each head. Place them on a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle each with a bit of olive oil. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and then wrap loosely in the foil. Place them on a rack in the centre of the oven that has been preheated to 350 degrees F. Bake the garlic for about 40 minutes. Check the garlic. It’s done once the cloves become soft and the head of garlic can be easily squeezed. Don’t burn the garlic. Let it sit overnight wrapped in the foil and use the following day.

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
roasted garlic (I use two heads of garlic but you can use how ever much you like)
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1/2 tsp. salt

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well.

Take a large piece of parchment paper and pile the butter at one end of the paper, forming it into a log as best as you can.

Begin rolling the paper and the butter up, jelly-roll style, rolling tightly as you go and smoothing the log.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Take the butter out about 30 minutes before using so that it has a chance to soften.

Enjoy!

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