Garlic butter is wonderful on grilled meats, on fish, and on steamed
vegetables.
1/4 cup butter
crushed garlic, to taste (start with a cautious two medium cloves)
2 teaspoons finely minced parsley (optional)
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
Work the butter on a plate with a knife or spoon until it is slightly
soft. You don’t want the butter too soft. Work in the crushed
garlic, chopped parsley and lemon juice. Pour off any extra lemon juice.
Refrigerate until firm. Put a pat of garlic butter on top of the hot
food as it is served.
I like the lemon juice when I am using the garlic butter for fish or
green beans - any dish that is enhanced by lemon juice. I omit the lemon
for potatoes or rice. I have no fixed preference for other dishes.
One spring we put garlic butter on asparagus for a change after we
had had several meals with plain butter. We compared Leningrad
(a Porcelain) and Puslinch (a Rocambole).
The Leningrad butter had a clean flavour with a strong aftertaste. The
Puslinch butter had a more complex flavour in the mouth and little aftertaste.
We agreed that the simplicity of the Leningrad complemented the asparagus
better.
