Compound Interest

Hi there,

Last night I had some terrifically fresh corn on the cob with real, honest-to-goodness butter.  (Please don't call the health police; it's not something I do often.)  Actually, I made a compound butter, which is nothing more than butter mixed with chopped herbs.

The only problem with compound butter is that whenever you look up a recipe for it, the darned recipe starts with a whole stick of butter.  It assumes you're making steak for 8 and want to put a nice, thick disk of butter on top of each portion.  Not a bad thing, as eating steak goes. . .but what if there are just one or two of you dining this evening?

Simple.  You chop off as much butter as you want (1 T. per person's a good start) and let it soften at room temp.  Chop up some herbs - as much or as little as you want.  I used cilantro and ground chipotle pepper, but if you were making salmon, for example, you could use dill, minced shallots and lemon zest.  Mash the herbs into the butter with a fork, put it into an appropriately-sized container or wrap it in cellophane and chill until hard.  When your dinner's ready, take it out and put it onto the food.  It's pretty, it melts, it's delicious, and it's a little something special you can do for yourself and your honey - or just for yourself!.  I hope you try it soon, and until next time, I'll see you at the market.