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.