One of the first herbs of spring is chives.  Chives, when fully mature develop beautiful purple flowers that signal that they are ready for harvest.  If you are like me, you suddenly find yourself with more chives than you can use.  So what do you do with all those lovely chives?  Chive butter.

Any herb can be made into a butter and frozen for a multiple of uses throughout the year.  The process is simple.  Soften a couple sticks of unsalted butter.  Finely chop the herbs and mix with the butter.   You can also add any preferred seasoning, roasted garlic, vinegars or mustards to create different themes and flavors.  Once you have mixed the herbs and butter together, simply transfer the mixture to a piece of wax paper and smooth into a log.  Fold the wax paper over the butter and roll into a log shape.  Finish by twisting the ends like a tootsie roll and refrigerate or freeze for later use.

Upon completing my harvest and preparing my chive butter, I used it in the following recipes:

Grilled New York Steaks with Chive Butter
Grilled Corn on the Cob with Chive Butter
Plank Grilled Lemon Chive Chicken

Other uses for herb butters are scrambled eggs, omelets, pasta, fish, sautéing vegetables, melt over steamed vegetables, and many more.  Herbed butters are a great ‘secret ingredient’ to have on hand that will add a special nuance to your cooking.

Grilled Corn on the Cob with Chive Butter

Here is my recipe for Chive Butter:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups coarsely chopped chives
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon gf dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Place chives and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a food processor and process until smooth.  Place butter in a medium bowl and stir until smooth.  Add chive mixture, dijon and lemon juice to the butter and mix well.  Season to taste with salt and pepper, mix well.

Transfer chive butter to a sheet of parchment paper in dolops horizontally in a line across the middle of the parchment.  Fold the bottom half of the parchment in half over the butter and with a ruler, press it towards you to make a log.  Twist the ends of the parchment (like a tootsie roll) and freeze for up to 6 months.

-Glutenfreeda