RECIPE: Nasturtium Butter

Our nasturtium plants are outdoing themselves this year, and I want to preserve their wonderfulness, so here's another way I save them.  Nasturtium plants are in the same family as horseradish, and have a similar bite.  Therefore...we like this over grilled beef...

 

Make this during summer, when the nasturtiums are prolific, and freeze it to use over winter. 

 

There are two ways to freeze it: one is shown below - in ice cube trays.  Once frozen, I wrap them individually in parchment, then in foil before returning to the freezer.  I made a double recipe for the ice cube tray shown below.

The other way is shown at the bottom of this post: I form the butter into a log, roll it in parchment; then roll it in plastic wrap to hold the shape; then roll it in tin foil to protect it from freezer burn.  The log can be sliced into coins.

 

 Nasturtium Butter

 

Makes about 3/4 cup

 

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup finely chopped nasturtium leaves

1 or 2 nasturtium flowers for every tbsp of butter 

1/2  tsp salt or to taste

1/2 tsp lemon zest

Optional:

1 t. garlic, micro-planed

1 t. lemon juice

 
INSTRUCTIONS:

Remove the petals from the flowers and slice them 1/16".  Add the rest of the flower to the nasturtium leaves.

Chop the nasturtiums leaves in a food processor. 

Add the butter, lemon juice, and salt and pulse to blend.  If you're using the garlic and lemon juice, add it now.  Taste and adjust seasoning.

Stir in the sliced flower petals by hand.

Chill or freeze. 

*In the photo above, the flowers were all very light yellow and didn't show up well.  Since then, the bush with the dark red flowers has blossomed so I made another batch with them, and I think it will be nice to serve it with our holiday raclette meal - butter with green and red flecks!  

How I wrap a roll of seasoned butter (I made a half recipe for the roll shown below, and used 8 red flowers):

(1) Roll the butter in parchment.

(2) Roll the parchment in cling wrap.

(3) Roll the cling wrap in foil.

I forgot to take a photo of the finished roll.  I labeled it, slipped into a small zipper bag, and froze it.

Here's how to use nasturtium butter:

Beyond steak and dip, it could be terrific in places where you'd normally use a finishing butter:

• Fish or shellfish — melt a slice over scallops, shrimp, cod or wild salmon. The pepperiness should be especially good with scallops.
• Eggs — fry/scramble eggs in it, melt onto poached eggs, or use it in deviled-egg filling.
• Green vegetables — green beans, asparagus, broccoli, peas. Melt it over green beans after cooking rather than cooking the butter hard.
• Cauliflower — roasted cauliflower finished with nasturtium butter 
• Winter squash — the peppery butter against sweet squash could be fabulous.
• Pasta — butter + pasta water + Pecorino/Parmigiano for an extremely simple nasturtium pasta.
• Risotto — beat a little in at the end instead of plain butter.
• Beans — melt it into white beans or white-bean purée. This might be one of the best uses.
• Chicken — tuck it under the skin of a breast before roasting, or melt it over a simply browned breast afterward.
• Bison burgers — a little coin melting over a smash burgers.
• Bread/croissants — particularly the flower version, where you can actually see the petals. It could also make very interesting croissant croutons.
• Sauce starter — shallot + wine/stock reduction, then whisk in cold nasturtium butter off heat. Essentially a nasturtium beurre blanc/pan sauce.