Tomorrow morning temps in NE Georgia will be in the upper 30’s. Too cold to risk keeping the basil outside any longer. I decided to replant two of the basil plants and try growing them inside over the winter. But I still had too much basil to replant, so I decided it was time to make basil compound butter.

If you’re ambitious you can make the butter yourself but I had a hunk of Amish unsalted butter in the freezer so I set that on the counter and let it thaw. Next I harvested a bunch of basil, rolled the bunch into a chiffonade (pile, roll tightly) then cut. I added the basil to the butter along with two cloves of garlic and a touch of salt. Here comes the fun part, you can mix with a spatula or just get in there with your hands, which is my preferred method. Just mix until basil, garlic and salt are well incorporated into the butter.

Compound Butter

I then put the whole thing on parchment paper and flattened a bit. Then simply begin rolling up the parchment until you have a log. You can skip this step and just put in an airtight jar but I wanted to freeze my compound butter and cut what I needed as I go.

Compound Butter

But I still had some basil left that I didn’t want to risk losing so I whisked up a quick herb mustard vinaigrette.

I didn’t measure anything just about 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, a bunch of chopped basil, 2 cloves of chopped garlic and a pinch of salt. Threw it all in the food processor and blended. I think it will be wonderful over roasted radish and salad turnips.

Basil Indoors

Herb Mustard Vinaigrette