Thursday, September 01, 2011

Tomato Basil Butter

Tomato Basil Butter The kids are back in school and that means the days of fresh, summer produce are getting shorter and shorter. August and September are an avalanche of tomatoes and basil, so if you can, take a few minutes to whip up a big batch of Tomato Basil Butter. You’ll be SO glad you did.


This amazing compound butter is fantastic on fish, grilled vegetables, garlic bread, and heck even as a base for non-sauced pizzas. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg….stir it in to mashed potatoes, soups, sauces, rice, put a dollop on a searing, grilled steak, smear it on grilled corn, mix it with spinach and use it as a filling for chicken breasts or thighs, OH MY!

Heck, I've even just spread it on warm bread and dug in...mmmmmmmmmmm.

This freezes amazingly well, so you can dip into this lovliness until next summer!

TOMATO BASIL BUTTER

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 1/ 2 cups peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes (about 1 lb.)
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/ 2 cup sweet butter softened
2 tsp. grated lemon rind
1/ 2 tsp. salt
1/ 8 tsp. pepper
1/ 4 cup minced fresh basil

Heat the olive oil in a small skillet. Add the tomatoes and garlic and sauté, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until the tomatoes form a puree that will mound. Let cool.

Put the butter in a mixing bowl and beat in the tomatoes and remaining ingredients. Can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated but best served at room temperature so that it will melt quickly. Freezes well, make a "log", wrap in waxed paper, then Ziploc bags.

9 comments:

Renata said...

What can be better than the combo tomato-basil? Tomato basil butter! That's fantastic! It's on my list!
Thanks for visiting my blog and for your lovely comment :o)

Just the Right Size said...

Thanks Renata; You'll love this compound butter, I promise!

Brooke - in Oregon said...

Oh my gosh this sounds AMAZING!!

Linda S said...

Sounds Delicious! I'm going to try it. Basil is ready and neighbor has more tomatos than he know what to do with. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

YUM!! My new project for Sunday! The Italian in me is saying Mangia!!!

Georgia said...

This sounds fantastic!!! Thanks for sharing :)

Just the Right Size said...

Brooke - This IS amazing! Thanks for stopping by.

Linda - Tis the season for basil and tomatoes!

Anon - I think you're going to love this. Mangia to you too!

Georgia - It is really good. Thanks for stopping by too!

Anna said...

This is delicious! I had some leftover pizza dough, so I rolled it out, spread a little of this butter on, then some grated mozzarella and parmesan, rolled it all up, cut it into buns and baked them. They're sooo tasty. Some of it's in the fridge for use this week and I froze the rest.

Just the Right Size said...

Anna, that DOES sound fantastic! I'm so glad you liked it. Basil and tomatoes are made for each other, dontcha think?

I put a spoonful of this into some plain, cooked couscous today....DELICIOUS!

 

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