For our Labor Day get together, we thought we would have steak.  At out house, this is beyond unusual.   Seldom do we buy steak for the whole gang.  Oh, we buy chuck roast and ground meat, but not steak.  On special occasions, Ever-Lovin’ and I enjoy a good steak at a steak house.  This got me to thinking.  At the fancy steak houses they serve a round of compound butter on their steaks, and it is delicious.  Maybe I could imitate that.  I did a little research, and basically used the recipe from the Certified Angus Beef website.  I changed it up a bit with the major change being that I did not use as much salt.

Sweet Mother of Pearl.  This is so easy, and divine!  It made our little plain steaks yummy and delicious.  

For starters I roasted some garlic.  Roasting garlic can turn sharp pungent garlic into a cook’s delight.  If you haven’t done this, try it.  It is super easy, and you will never be the same.  Seriously – It is life changing.  Preheat oven to 400F degrees.  Remove lose outer  white papery skins from the outside of the garlic bulbs.  (NOTE:  Choose bulbs with big garlic cloves – like the one on the top left.  It just is a little easier.)  Cut off the top of the garlic bulbs.  Place garlic in a foil lined pan.  Drizzle with olive oil – let the oil sink into the bulbs.  Wrap the bulbs in the foil, and bake for 40-50 minutes.  The baking time depends on the size of the bulbs.  Check after 40 minutes.  You want the garlic to begin caramelizing.  When the garlic is done, squeeze the bulb from the bottom, and the roasted garlic cloves will slip out.  I cook several bulbs at a time because the roasted garlic will keep in the refrigerator for some time.  You can use roasted garlic in this compound butter, in spreads, in mashed potatoes, in sauces, on garlic bread or ???.  However you use it.  It will be Yummy!

These were the ingredients I gathered together to make the compound butter.  You can call this herb butter, or steakhouse butter, or hotel butter – whatever, but the bottom line is that you combine fresh herbs and butter together.  That is it.

I used herbs from my garden – rosemary, basil, parsley.  I also added one green onion, and one bulb of the roasted garlic. (I know there are two green onions in the picture, but I decided to use just one onion.  It is okay to change my mind.)

In the bowl of a food processor, put the butter, chopped herbs, roasted garlic, green onion, salt and pepper.  

Blend.  That is it.  It is so EASY.  If you do not have a food processor or do not want to get it out, you can use a mixer or even a fork.  Just chop the herbs finer if you are mixing by hand.

On a piece of plastic wrap, place half of the herb butter.

Form the butter into a 1 – 1 1/2  inch diameter log, and twist the ends of the plastic wrap tightly.  Repeat with the other half of the butter mixture.  Place logs in the refrigerator to chill.  The butter needs to get firm – about two or more hours.  You can do this ahead of time.  The butter will last a couple of weeks in the refrigerator, or you can freeze it for up to 3 months.

There are no pictures of the compound butter on the steaks because….  Trust me.  The butter flavoring the steaks was wonderful and so easy!  The family was impressed.

When you are ready to serve the steaks (or other meats), slice the butter into 1/4 inch rounds.  Place a round of the butter on cooked steak, fish, or chicken, and you will transform said meats.  Glory be!  You will think you are a master chef.   It is so delicious.

BTW:  Use any fresh herbs to you liking – sage, thyme, etc.  You can even add lemon zest.  There are no set rules.

Blessings to you and yours,

To print the recipe, go to lanabird.com or click on the title of this post.  The print button is under the SHARE button.

I think this compound butter would also make a delicious garlic bread spread.