Dec 29, 2020
Fluffy Garlic Butter | Rich Butter Spread
Two ingredients are always present in my kitchen: garlic and butter.
Both of them are staples in Italian and Indian cuisines… I really couldn’t think of Pav Bhaji without a lump of butter on top (or Egg Burji for that matter) or a lasagne without homemade béchamel sauce… it would be sacrilegious!
Jay and I like to prepare sharing platters to put on our table when we have guests, also if it is just for a late morning coffee or an afternoon orange juice; I suppose it is just in our blood! Have you ever been to an Italian or Indian home and have left without someone trying to force-feed you? Impossible!
When we have guests later in the day, what I put on the table tends to be savory, mostly freshly chopped ingredients with a base to build your own appetizer, like toasted rye bread and prawn cocktail, or onion focaccia with a selection of cheeses, hams, and sauces.
One of the condiments I like to offer is garlic butter; I spent more time than I should admit perfecting this! How to make garlic butter? How to make it creamy, tasty throughout, and easy to spread?
Fluffy Garlic Butter
Garlic butter… but better!
- 100 g Unsalted Butter
- 4 Cloves of Garlic
- 1/2 Tsp Dry Parsley
- 1/4 Tsp Wild Oregano
- Salt to Taste
- Remove the butter from the fridge a couple of hours before you need it and leave it on the counter to soften. Depending on where you live in the world and on the season you may need a bit longer or much much less time — so this is a tough timeframe to offer!
- Peel and roughly chop the garlic; this doesn’t need to be perfectly done, as you will blend it afterward.
- In an upside-down blender, put the butter and the roughly chopped garlic and blend; you may need to blend for 20 seconds, stop, mix with a spoon and go again 3–4 times.
- Once the garlic is thoroughly blended in the butter and you can hardly see any pieces (there will be, but small — not chunky), add the parsley, oregano, and salt and give one last quick blend for about 10–15 seconds.
- Remove from the blender and place in a sealed container; this will allow you to store it in the fridge. Spread and enjoy as needed!
In our household, the way we mostly enjoy this garlic butter recipe on thin bagels! We spread a teaspoon of the fluffy garlic butter sauce on each slice, then put them ‘’garlic side up’’ on a flat frying pan on a low flame; we keep in that way until we see the whole of the garlic butter spread has melted and become transparent, at which point we put the flame to medium and turn the bagels upside-down and leave for one minute. After a minute we turn the flame off and leave the bagel like that for a further 1–3 minutes (depends on how toasted you like your bread!). Heaven on a slice!
As usual, as per all my recipes that use herbs, if you do have fresh parsley, you can substitute the dry one with it; you will need very few leaves, won’t require the stalks, and ensure it is dry before mixing with the butter. Should you over-blend the butter with fresh parsley, it will turn light green… just be mindful if you’re preparing it and kids will be eating it as well (as we know the color green in food is the ‘’enemy’’)
If you have salted butter, you can use it instead of the unsalted one and skip the salt in the final step. I like to use an unsalted one, as it allows me to salt it to my preference and I like the taste of the salt crystals as I eat!
Oregano in this recipe is an extra ingredient I really enjoy! If you are planning to prepare a sharing loaf, why not try using the oven? Slice the bread you like and cut it into slices; on your work surface, lay down a sheet of foil. Start with one end of the bread and apply butter on the slice, pick the slice that was originally next to it and on the face that goes against the butter, apply a couple of drops of olive oil, while on the opposite one, garlic butter. Continue this way until you reconstruct the whole loaf and each buttery side meets an olive oil side, then wrap in the foil and bake for about 7–10 minutes (depending on the oven) at 170 degrees Fan Oven.
