Homemade Butter in your Food Pro :))

A couple of months ago , I did a post on how to make your own butter , the old fashioned way , with a little elbow grease and a mason jar :)  Today Ill show you an easier method, using your food pro. Lots of pictures to explain the whole process :) Enjoy  

Ingredients Required : 

Heavy Cream - I used 750 ml , but 500ml makes for a nice sized batch too. 

Food Processor 

Sea Salt - Optional 

Start with 750ml of heavy cream ( 35% ) Ive owned this food pro for 10 years , and have never had a chance to use the mixer attachment until now. 

Noisy attachment that it is :) lol 

5 minutes or so in.. it will appear that nothing is happening, and then .... 

You get good old fashioned whipping cream :))  :) 

Keep going , the volume will increase almost twofold. 

and just when you think nothing is going to happen ... it starts to change ..  this is about 15 minutes in . 

At about twenty minutes it starts to clump up a little, and the butter milk starts separating. 

Twenty five minutes of constant whirring , and you have butter .. time to strain off the butter milk. 

Add a couple of cups of ice water , and turn it back on for 1 minute. 

Strain off the ice water , and you will have butter!!!  

Mmmmm creamy homemade butter !!!  

I saved the butter milk for making a  loaf of bread :)) 

Pack the butter into a seal-able container , add some sea salt if you like :) This will last for about a month in the fridge.  

That's it!! So simple and easy , and you can add any flavourings you like , herbs, salts , chili.. garlic Mmmmm so many options to enjoy , or keep it plain and add flavour later :)  I hope you have enjoyed this recipe.  Happy Cooking :))

Baked Egg in Jacket Sweet Potato, with Chilli Lime and Coriander Butter

Besides making the garlic and herb butter, I also made a flavoured butter, this time infused with the spice of chilli and the freshness of lime zest and coriander. I had them in the fridge anyway because of the type of food I usually cook, and I really wanted to give my own special twist to the usual herb butter.

These few nights have been a mad rush for deadlines, and I haven't had much time to spend fiddling with complicated recipes or those that need me to be hands on. There's been a lot of "throw vegetables and meat and herbs into the slow cooker", and of course, "throw things into the oven". But while I may compromise on effort, I don't compromise on taste or nutrition. A baked sweet potato is simple, yet oozing with sweetness (and vitamins), and topped with an egg, and of course, that yummy butter, I've got a hearty delicious supper ready.

Baked Egg in Jacket Sweet Potato, with Chilli Lime and Coriander Butter

serves 1

Ingredients

1 sweet potato, washed and scrubbed, but skin-on

1 egg

2 coins of chilli lime and coriander butter (see below)

a bit more butter (plain)

coarse sea salt

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

2. Pat the sweet potato dry and prick all over with a fork. This allows the steam to escape and prevents it from exploding. Rub melted plain butter over the skin and season with coarse sea salt to get crispier skin.

3. Bake for about 30-45 min (depends how big your sweet potato is!), till tender. Remove, and lower the heat to about 170.

4. Cut the baked sweet potato, but not all the way. Drop one thin coin of chilli butter in so it melts into the soft sweet flesh, then crack an egg over.

Might be a good idea to transfer to an (oven-safe) dish you plan to eat from (if not already), because the egg will probably ooze all over. It's messy, but I don't really mind, I like it when the liquids (egg white, sticky sweet potato juices and spicy zesty butter) all intermingle and caramelise around the sweet potato. Alternatively, you can slice a bit off the top of the sweet potato, scoop out a bit of the flesh, then crack the egg into the hole. That'd be a lot classier, but a pretty dish wasn't really my top priority then.

5. Return to oven for about 10 min more till the egg is set. Serve with another coin of chilli butter and some lightly dressed greens.

Chilli Lime and Coriander Butter

makes 1 little log

Ingredients

1/4 block of butter

2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (i.e cilantro)

grated zest of 1/2 a lime

1 tsp chilli flakes (to taste)

sea salt (to taste)

Method

refer to my post on making your own flavoured butter!

I love this butter melted on fish (again, see previous post), but particularly on roasted root vegetables or tubers, because the spicy salty nutty melted butter just complements the concentrated sweetness of the root vegetables, and the lime zest and coriander helps to bring some freshness to counteract that stodginess.

This is part of Full Plate Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday and Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, and Herbs and Flowers in my Platter- Coriander, (started by Seduce your tastebuds).

Make your own flavoured butter

Herb butters are the best standbys for a busy weeknight, I feel. And these two weeks, I am going to be very busy, so I bought yet another block of butter (kerrygold's on offer anyway!) to set about making a few different flavours so I can just pop them into or on top of my baked/steamed/pan-fried vegetables/fish/meat<-- yes that's just how useful they are, and not to mention, easy. You can use any combination of herbs you want, or in my case, need to use up.

Garlic and Herb (Parsley) Butter

makes 1 little log

Ingredients

1/4 block of butter

2-3 tbsp of chopped fresh parsley (leaves only)

1 clove garlic, finely grated

sea salt, to taste (if using unsalted butter)

Method

1. Leave the butter out till it softens.

see how yellow grassfed butter is?

2. Mix in the chopped herbs, garlic and sea salt.

3. Scoop onto clingfilm and then wrap the clingfilm around the butter mixture. Roll (the way you roll play-doh!) gently till you get a little log, then twist to seal the edges.

4. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours, or till it hardens.

Just slice into coins as and when you need them!

This was a quick dinner:

Pan-fried Mackerel with Garlic and Parsley Butter

serves 1

1 mackerel fillet

sea salt, black pepper (to taste)

2-3 'coins' of flavoured butter (above)

1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Score the mackerel skin, you can slash or do criss-crosses , it just helps to keep it from curling up. Season on both sides.

3. Place the mackerel skin side down on a pan over medium high heat for about 10 min (could be a bit less even, depend how thick your fillet is. Just watch the colour change. It's easy though, no work. You shouldn't try to keep poking it).

4. When almost done, add one coin of butter to the pan and swirl about the edges of the mackerel, to help the skin caramelise and crisp up more.

5. Serve with more coins of herb butter and simply cooked greens. (you can drop coins of flavoured butter into the greens too hehe. never too much eh?)

The flavour of the garlic and parsely, and most importantly, that creamy nutty butter, just melts into the "boring old pan-fried fish", making for a quick yummy dinner!

This is part of Hearth and Soul Hop, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tuesday Night Supper Club, Anyone Can Cook, Simple Lives Thursday.

Homemade Butter :))

Why have I not tried this before ?? and the field trip in grade six doesn't count !  If I could do it then, why couldn't I do it now.    So after watching a quick video clip on how to make your own with a food pro, I decided to try a slightly more manual way .    Just using a mason jar and heavy cream.   That's it!!
My other thought was, can I save money by doing this ?? Good butter is $4  to 5 a pound here ( I don't like the cheap butter , it has more than cream and salt ) So can I do it ??   Read below and find out.

Heavy Cream ( 35% ) and a mason jar  with a lid is all you need

Start by pouring half the cream (250ml ) into the mason jar, secure the lid and start shaking ... pretend your one of those paint can shakers in the hardware store and go to it.  This was after ten minutes of shaking ,  I had some very thick cream ... time to switch methods a little. 

I used the handle from a spatula to finish the job ..  10 more minutes of stirring. 

At this point , if you wanted to add flavourings .. this would be the time. I wanted to try a plain unsalted batch before I started messing around.    Salt, Garlic, Fresh Herbs etc.. the list can go on.

This was after 10 minutes of stirring ....  just about there , it will come together quick now.. maybe 2 more minutes. 

Butter!!! I made butter , 22 minutes of shaking and stirring produced this creamy goodness!!  Now just one more step. Reserve the buttermilk ( I used mine for making a loaf of bread )  , and get a cup of ice water ready. 

Put the butter back in the jar, with the ice water and shake for 2 more minutes... drain the water off, and this is what your left with.   

Total time was 24 minutes... and I have butter that should last a month in the fridge. 

The bowl weighed close to 300g, I ended up with a 150g ( 1/3 pound )

So did I manage to make it for less than I can buy it for??   Yes .. just !!   I found the cream on sale for $2.50 / 500ml ... I used half of the cream to make 150g of butter...  Since this tasted AMAZING i will compare it to the $5.00 per 450g ( 1 pound ) of butter .   It cost me $1.25 , compared to $1.66 for the store bought. Not a huge savings ...  but Ill take a 25% discount anytime I can get it !!

Simply amazing is how I'm going to describe this butter,  I have not had that many bread and butter sandwiches since I was a kid!!  lol  I will be making this again , the next time will be a batch size , with some flavourings added ..  stick around Butter part 2 will be back !!

I hope you have enjoyed this post .. please feel free to leave comments, suggestions or critiques below.
Happy Cooking!