Asiago Butter

One time Mr. Lawyer got this delicious blue cheese crumble on his steak. Wegman's has a variety of delicious finishing butters that my roommate and I use to try. I decided to combine the two to make a delicious topping for our steak. It was amazing. I am currently eating the leftovers with some warmed up buttermilk biscuits (also leftovers) as a delicious afternoon snack.

Asiago Finishing Butter

(from the kitchen of Jenni)

Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons grated asiago (or more depending on how cheesy you want it)
Fresh cracked pepper (about two twists of the grinder)
A pinch of salt
A dash of oregano (mostly for appearances, you couldn't really taste it)
Directions:
1. Mix it all together and serve!

Jive and Chive!

We had a whole bunch of chives left over from our Hurricane Potato Soup and I didn't want to waste them so I whipped up a quick and delicious compound butter to go with my lovely french bread. Yum! I imagine this would be absolutely amazing on a steak.

Parmesan and Chive Butter

(adapted from Whole Foods)

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
2 tablespoon finely chopped chives

Directions:

1. Mix it all together! The longer it sets before you serve it, the more the flavors will mix together.

Beautiful Brown Butter!

Given the fact that this recipe was incredibly simple, delicious and you probably have all of the ingredients (except the ravioli) in your kitchen making the cost minimal, this recipe is a ten star keeper. I picked up two packs of frozen butternut squash ravioli for six bucks and had pecans on hand (from many baking adventures) which worked out well since The Lawyer isn't a huge fan of walnuts. I have also had this done with hazelnuts at a restaurant so I imagine that just about any nut you have will work well. Despite being accused of trying to kill us with the amount of butter, this recipe was amazing and made a simple dish into something fancy. The browned butter and nuts gave it a nice nutty flavor, the balsamic just a hint of tang which played wonderfully off the slight sweetness of the butternut ravioli.

Ravioli with Balsamic Brown Butter

(Giada, Food Network)

Ingredients:
18 to 20 ounces store-bought ravioli (cheese, mushroom, or squash)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup toasted, chopped walnuts (or pecans!)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the ravioli and cook 4 to 5 minutes, until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally. Drain ravioli onto a large serving platter.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan cook the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the foam subsides, and the butter begins to turn a golden brown, about 3 minutes, turn off the heat. Let cool for about 1 minute. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.
3. Transfer the ravioli to the pan saucepan with the balsamic brown butter. Sprinkle walnuts and Parmesan over the top. Serve immediately.

Biscuits and such

It's not a cooking week. We're working on leftovers and freezer stuff. Today Woody's leftover meaty manly chili, tomorrow hot dogs! But the poor chili just needed a little something so I whipped up some biscuits. The biscuits came out wonderfully, like something Grandpa Norm would make! In continuing with my compound butter addiction I made some Marmalade Butter. It was good but I'm not sure I would make it again unlike my garlic butter or cinnamon honey butter. It's definitely more of a brunch thing and the Lawyer isn't really a fan of orange marmalade ("It's like eating pulp!") so I will be eating it all up myself.

Biscuits

(from seriouseats.com)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick or 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
2 tablespoons cold cream cheese
1/2 to 3/4 cup cold buttermilk
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine all of the dry ingredients and mix well.
3. Add butter and pulse until butter is finely dispersed throughout dry ingredients.
4. Add cream cheese and pulse to distribute, leaving a few small, pea-sized pieces of cheese in tact. Turn mixture into a mixing bowl.
5. Drizzle in about a 1/3 cup of the buttermilk and toss gently with your hands to evenly distribute. Add more milk a tablespoon or so at a time until dough is just moist enough to come together without any dry crumbly bits.
6. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Dust the surface of the dough lightly with more flour and pat the dough out to about ¾-inch thick.
7. Fold the dough back over on itself in thirds and pat out to about 3/4-inch thick again, flouring the surface lightly as needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
8. Fold the dough back over on itself in thirds again, then pat it out to a final thickness of about 1/2 inch.
9. Using a lightly floured 2 1/4-inch round cutter, cut the dough into rounds and place on prepared baking sheet, at least an inch apart. Scraps may be gently packed together, patted out to 1/2-inch thickness once more and cut.
10. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until biscuits are well-risen, pale golden on top and a deeper brown on their bottoms.

Marmalade Butter

(Ina Garten)

Ingredients:
1 stick butter, room temperature
1/2 cup good orange marmalade
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:

1. Mix it all together and serve at room temperature

Biscuits of the Dill Variety

These biscuits are easy and yummy. This is the second time that I've made them (and they came out better the first time!) This time the dill flavor wasn't too pronounced. And I'm still overly thrilled that I have a new food processor and it tends to mesmerize me and I overworked the dough a little bit so the biscuits weren't too crumbly and biscuit like but more silky.
This honey butter recipe accompanied the dill biscuits. I prefer the cinnamon honey butter but cinnamon and dill isn't the best combination. After having that one this regular honey butter seems a bit plain. On the upside using coarsely ground sea salt means that every once in a while you get a nice salty crunch mixed in  with all the sweet stuff which is amazing.

Dill Biscuits with Honey Butter

(Food Network Magazine)

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt

12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup buttermilk, plus more for brushing
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Pulse the flour, baking powder, baking soda and fine salt in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse into pea-size pieces. Add the dill, then slowly pulse in the buttermilk until the dough just comes together. Transfer to a floured surface and knead three to five times. Shape into a disk.
2. Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into rounds with a 2 1/2-inch round cutter or a glass. Reroll any scraps. Place on a baking sheet, brush with buttermilk and bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

Honey Butter

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons honey

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

1. Mix the butter, honey and sea salt in a bowl until smooth. Serve with the warm biscuits.

Yet another compound butter!

You might recall the sweet and yummy Cinnamon Honey Butter that I often pair with my english muffin loaf and if you don't, I suggest you make it soon! Tonight we made a more savory compound butter for our huge Italian meal. It's great on plan bread, pasta or on little toasted crostinis (I even added a little extra pecorino romano on top!)

Garlic Butter

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground paprika
Super Easy Directions:
1. Mix everything together.

English Muffin Loaf

English Muffin Loaf is yummy and amazing. I could eat the whole loaf by myself but tonight I had to fight the Lawyer for it. I could make this recipe in my sleep but today's loaf was my best yet and I owe that entirely to my new food processor (thanks Dad!)! This sucker did a wonderful job mixing everything together which result in a nice big loaf. Previously I had always mixed and kneaded the dough by hand which left me with some dense, not as high bread. Here is my cabinet of fun gadgets lovingly collected over the years from my parents, Mr. Lawyer's parents, and grandparents:

Waffle Iron, Hand Mixer, Grater, Blades and Containers, 2 Crockpots,

New Blender, New Food Processor, Foreman Grill, Salad Spinner.

English Muffin Loaf

Makes 2 loaves, from the Mother Unit

Ingredients:

6 cups flour

2 teaspoons salt

2 packages yeast

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups milk

cornmeal

Directions:

1. Set aside 3 cups of flour. Combine the remaining flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and yeast.

2. Combine milk and water in separate container, heat to 125-130 degrees. Add to dry ingredients and mix well.

3. Add in reserved flour, mix well.

4. Divide batter into 2 bread pans that have been greased and sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle more cornmeal on top of dough.

5. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.

6. Bake at 400 for 25 minutes. Remove from pans immediately.

Honey Butter with Cinnamon

From Alton Brown

Ingredients:

1 stick butter at room temperature

1 tablespoon honey

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (I add a little more)

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Throw everything in a bowl and mix it together.

2. Done.