Butter

Why buy butter in a store when it takes just a few minutes to make at home? It is really fun making butter and the KitchenAid mixer whips it up instantly.

All you need is heavy whipping cream. Pour a little or a lot (depending on how much butter you need) into the mixing bowl and whip with the wire beater on the highest speed. Use the splash guard because it will splatter everywhere.
After a couple minutes you will have whipped cream. Stop here if that is your goal. Otherwise, keep going another minute or two until it thickens up and turns into butter. That’s it.
Below I have some ideas to add as you whip the butter. The quantity mentioned for each assumes you only want to make 2-3 tablespoons of butter.

on the left- Basil Butter

1 TB freshly chopped basil, pinch of sea salt, pepper
in the middle- Vietnamese Sweet Lemon Curry Butter-
1 TB curry powder (www.savoryspiceshop.com)
Right- Horseradish Butter
1 tsp powdered horseradish, sea salt, aleppo pepper flakes (again, visit savory spice shop for these ingredients)

Grilled Bread

Slice it and throw it on the grill for a few minutes. Why not?

Goes well with some olive oil, or, better yet… one of my homemade butters!

Grilled Eggplant Pita

I love making different sandwiches with my leftover hummus. This one was great on a hot summer night.

Ingredients:

  • Grilled eggplant
  • Grilled yellow onion
  • Grilled pepper
  • sliced tomato
  • hummus
  • feta cheese
I sliced up some local eggplant, a yellow onion, and a green pepper, tossed them in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and threw them on the grill. When they were done, I stuffed them in a warm pita with tomato, some of my Roasted Garlic Sun-dried Tomato Hummus, and some feta cheese. Delicious.

Roasted Garlic Sun-dried Tomato Hummus

I usually prefer to make hummus the traditional way- soaking dried garbanzo beans in water over night and then boiling them. Also, I really follow a traditional recipe when I do it that way, unlike my quick recipes for hummus, which often have roasted garlic, sun-dried tomato, or some other added flavor.

Here is one of my favorite ways to make hummus in a snap.

Ingredients:

  • 1 bulb garlic
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
  • 4 sun-dried tomatoes (I used dehydrated and soaked them in warm water for one hour prior to using)
  • 4 TB tahini
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • sea salt (a pinch or more, depending on taste. You might prefer it to be rather salty.)
  • fresh ground black pepper (as much as you want)
  • 1/4-1/2 cup cold water
I like the flavor of roasted garlic. Put one bulb of un-peeled garlic in a small oven-safe bowl. Cover in 1/2 cup olive oil and roast in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes or so. I usually wrap the entire bowl in foil by placing the bowl on a piece of foil and wrapping the edges up over the bowl so it is covered. Sometimes the oil gets super bubbly, so wrapping it this way prevents it from spilling out over the sides and making a mess.
When the garlic is sizzling, smells amazing, and is a nice deep golden brown, it is done. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool. Then peel each clove out from the flaky skin. This will be messy. Save all of the oil.
Combine everything except the water in a food processor. Start to purée and add the water, little by little, to make your desired consistency. Enjoy.

Sweet Chili Garlic Sauce and Marinade

I made this up as a marinade for baked tofu and it was delicious. If you want to go that route, follow my earlier baked or grilled tofu recipes, but substitute this marinade for whatever is in the original recipe.

I had some left over, so I used it as a dip for some veggie rice paper wraps (follow my recipe for Shrimp and Veggie Rice Paper Wraps for a great recipe, I left out the shrimp for these particular wraps).

Marinade Ingredients:

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 TB peanut oil
  • 1 tsp chili garlic sauce
  • 1/2 cup water
  • honey
  • sweet soy sauce

Welcome to my kitchen

A Bolder Table is a place where I bookmark my favorite recipes for later along with some occasional musings. It's my personal digital recipe compilation... Let's say it's my cookbook. Thanks for stopping by! -Megan
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