Compound Butter and the Joy of an Airline upgrade

Roasted garlic, hot from the oven ready to spread on bread or mix with butter.

I just returned from a training trip for work.  It was in California so the weather was better than here.  Dave kept sending me pictures of how it continued to snow at our house while I was in 70+ degree weather.  I felt very sad for him (not really because I was in the sun, and it is all about me, but I have to say that I was sad for him so he feels better).

The day before I left, I checked in online and printed my boarding passes.  I was so excited to get a free upgrade!  I was in seat 2 D!  Well, I thought, that MVP does me some good after all.  A free upgrade!  I was on cloud 9.

The next morning, I was still pretty happy, started to board the plane and I knew something was wrong.  This was not a real airplane, it was more like a culvert with wings. You know, the kind that doesn't fit up to the walkway, there are only two seats on each side, and the stewardess gives you your choice of water or apple juice.

I boarded and much to my disappointment I discovered there was NO first class.  O.K. so much for the upgrade. Even the seats were smaller than a real airplane.  At least I had the seat next to me empty...for a while.  The last man on the plane was a rather large gentleman and HE SAT DOWN RIGHT NEXT TO ME.  I'm not trying to be mean, but he took up his seat and about 1/3 of mine (now, in his defense they were little seats).  And, to make everything more pleasant he smelled...like B.O. and fried onions.  It was the longest 2 1/2 hours of my life (almost, except for childbirth, the night I thought Dave was going to kill me, the "nice little hike" we took with Zach's boyscout troop though waist deep snow...).  Well, I lived and I will never make the assumption that 2D is first class.

So, we (meaning Dave since I was gone) continue to work on our house and Dave is grilling dinner almost every night.  Hasn't started to complain yet and I'm keeping it going as long as possible.  I'll feed him a steak often so he won't start complaining!

Garlic and thyme butter rolled and wrapped ready for the fridge.  

One of the things I like to do is make up a couple batches of compound butters.  I add roasted garlic, herbs, and spices.  I tend to keep it pretty basic, roasted garlic, thyme, chipotle in adobo...

So here is the "recipe" for two of the butters I have in my fridge right now.  I use it on bread, grilled beef, chicken, or salmon, on veggies, and as a finisher for pan sauce.  Once you have it on hand you will use it on everything!  Everyone knows that everything is better with butter.

Dave's steak finished with garlic-thyme butter.

Roasted Garlic Butter
1 head garlic
1 tsp. olive oil
1/2 cup butter, softened

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Cut top 1/3 off the head of garlic.  Place garlic on aluminum foil.  Drizzle with olive oil. Wrap tightly with foil.  Bake 1 hour.

Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Place softened butter in small bowl.  Squeeze roasted garlic out of paper shells into bowl (it just squishes out easily).  Mix with the back of a spoon or gently with a hand mixer.

Roll into a cylinder.  Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks or in freezer for 6 months.

Roasted Garlic-Thyme Butter
Same as above and add 1 Tbsp. finely chopped thyme when mixing in the garlic.

May 8, 2013     Daylight 17 hours, 55 minutes, 1 second   Temp. H45/L 21°F