Herb Butter & A Tasha Tudor Giveaway

`Early this morning I stepped outside my kitchen door with a pair of scissors in hand and snipped a nice bunch of herbs.

Rosemary ~ Summer Savory ~ Parsley ~ Chives

This morning I am going to make some herb butter. After selecting my herbs I give them a good shake outside. Don't want any little critters in my butter, if ya know what I mean. Then into the sink for a good rinse & then onto paper towel to dry.

First I think I will make a parsley/chive butter. I start by mincing my herbs very fine. I love to chop herbs with a chef's knife. Have you ever seen Rachael or Giada or Ina chop herbs with a chef's knife? After watching them a time or two I couldn't wait to try their method. It looked like so much fun!! Well, after much practice I can mince those herbs in no time flat and I find it so relaxing - almost therapeutic. Okay, okay . . . it doesn't take much to amuse some of us ;-)


Next, to one stick of butter or margarine I add 2 - 3 teaspoons of minced herbs. Today I used 2 tsp. of parsley & 1 tsp. of chives.



Isn't that starting to look pretty?

I give it a gentle but thorough mix. I love those little green flecks of fresh flavor. This one will be so good on steamed vegetables, baked potatoes, boiled new potatoes or anything else you might want to try it on. That's the fun of making herb butter ~ use your imagination and do a little experimenting.

I am going to roll this one up in parchment paper. After rolling it into a log I put it into the refrigerator to harden up and then it can be sliced. If I don't plan to use it for awhile I put it into a freezer bag and freeze it.

Rosemary butter is the next one I will make this morning. I really like the flavor of rosemary. However, I know everybody doesn't feel the same as I do about it. Like my sister-in-law, for instance, she says it is like eating a Christmas tree.

Well, no matter how you feel about it, it's a good idea to mince the rosemary super fine and I only use 2 teaspoons of it as it is a strong flavor.

I especially like to eat this one on a really good piece of warm, crusty bread.

I put the rosemary butter into a flower mold and a small white dish. I bought the mold at our local botanical garden a few years ago. You put the butter into the mold, level it off, refrigerate until firm and then pull the sides away and voila ~ you have a beautiful flower. It's fun to make a few of these and put them on a pretty plate for a special occasion.

The white dish is one of four I found at the thrift shop last week. I wasn't sure what they were for, but thought they would work nicely for this purpose. I put a sprig of rosemary on top. It makes it look pretty and also offers a hint of the flavor of the butter.

The last butter I am making this morning is summer savory butter. I think that is such a pretty name for an herb. In fact I find a lot of herb names to be charming. You may know that summer savory is sometimes called "the green bean herb". It goes very well with lots of types of beans. I made this the same as the others. I added 2 teaspoons of finely minced summer savory to one stick of butter. I put it into 2 more of my thrift shop (gotta love those thrift shops) molds and added a sprig of the herb to the top. All ready to go get some farm fresh green beans now.

If you have never made herb butter before I hope you will give it a try.

Alright now, about that giveaway . . .

I learned from reading several other blogs that Tasha Tudor, a very talented artist, author and gardener passed away on June 18 at the age of 92. I do own a few of her books and have always loved her illustrations. Years ago I checked this book out of the library:

I absolutely adored the information in it and also adored the illustrations by Tasha Tudor.

I tried to buy my own copy, but couldn't find it anywhere because it was out of print. I never forgot about it & then a couple of years later I found a used copy in a book exchange store. I was thrilled to pieces.

Can you blame me - look at these sweet illustrations.

Well, about a year ago I found another copy in a thrift shop (I told you, you gotta love em). I knew I didn't need two copies, but how could I pass it up after knowing how hard the first one was to come by??

So I thought it would make me very happy to share with one of the many wonderful ladies in blogland. This will be my first giveaway. If you like vegetable and/or herb gardening and like Tasha Tudor you will love this book.

If you leave a comment on this post only I will choose one name and that person will be the winner. I will choose the winner on Sunday, July 6th. So, you have until Saturday the 5th at midnight to enter. If you don't have a blog, please leave your e-mail address so I can contact you. Good luck.

I am leaving in the morning to go somewhere special ~ to celebrate something special ;-). Be back in a few days.

Hope you are enjoying lots of summer fun,

Kim