Butter..Butter...And Again Butter....So Important For French Cuisine

Let's forget about olive oil and its benefits here. There's no two ways about it...good quality fresh butter is absolutely delicious. Salted fresh butter is even more delicious. Is good for the health when consumed with measure and preferably for breakfast. Can be eaten with jam, cheese, or alone with hot freshly baked bread.  It can be used for so many purposes in French and international cuisine to cook some fantastic dishes with unforgettable tastes. I would like to share with you, my friends, two types of butter compositions which came to my mind bright and early this Saturday morning while my Government is pondering what to do next...

A)  Beurre Maître d'Hôtel commonly called Lemon - Parsley butter: 

Ingredients:
-  250 gm fine quality fresh butter left out of the fridge to completely soften.
-  2 Tbsp. very finely chopped parsley.
-  Juice of ½ lemon.
-  Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste.
Method:
-  Turn the butter into paste.
-   Add the parsley and mix well.
-  Add the lemon juice and mix well.
-  Add salt and pepper to taste.
-  Roll butter in a rectangular piece of parchment paper to give it the round tubular look. About the size of a 2 Euro piece in diameter.
-  Refrigerate until needed.
Uses:
Cut into ¼ inch slices and served on top of grilled meat and fish.

B)  Beurre Bourgignon  -  Basically used for Snails Bourginon:

Ingredients: Same as above but with the addition of garlic and onion paste.
-  250 gm of fine quality fresh butter left out of the fridge to completely soften.
-  2 Tbsp. very finely chopped parsley.
-  2 - 3 cloves of garlic (depending how garlicky you like it) first passed through the garlic press then turned into a paste in a mortar and pestle.
-  ½ an onion also turned into a paste in mortar and pestle.
-  Juice of ½ lemon.
-  Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste.
Method:
-  Turn the butter into paste.
-  Add the parsley and mix well.
-  Add the lemon juice and mix well.
-  Add the garlic and mix well.
-  Add the onion and mix well.
-  Add the salt and pepper to taste.
-  Roll butter mixture in a rectangular piece of parchment paper to give it its round and tubular look. About the size of a 2 Euro piece in diameter.
Uses:
-  Snails Bourgignon -  snail shells stuffed with a couple of snails and this butter.
-  Big button mushrooms without stems using only the head to lay upon a snail and this butter.
-  Fry your eggs with in the morning.
-  Eat it on nice hot croissant.
-  General cooking.
Enjoy!
Stelio

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