One of the many highlights of the Taste Waterford Demos & Chats at this year’s Vitamin Sea Festival was award-winning Irish Gourmet Butter.
Mary Sharpe and daughter Bronagh Sharpe created visually exciting and delicious butter boards.
Perfect for a stylish snack with friends coming around, or an accompaniment to a meal – butter boards never fail to impress.
The audience loved them and were asking for the recipes – so here they are. Let us know how you get on. From Mary…
Please use the recipes as a guide and adjust depending on how big your board is and how many people you are expecting. Below I have included some store cupboard items that we used too.
Garlic and herb board:
– 200g of Irish Gourmet Butter, lightly salted, softened
– 80g of Irish Gourmet Butter, garlic and herb, softened
– 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
– 100ml vegetable oil
– 2 teaspoons sea salt
– 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
– 1 tablespoon chopped chives
– 40g of salted pistachios, shelled and chopped
– 40g of pickled red onion (see below)
– 2 tablespoons of hot honey or regular honey (see below).
Harrison’s quick pickled red onions:
– three large red onions sliced in to a non-metallic bowl
– 150ml red wine vinegar
– 300ml of water
– 75mg sugar
– 1 teaspoon of salt
– 4 bay leaves
– 2 star anise
– 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
– half a teaspoon coriander seeds.
Method:
1. Place all ingredients other than the onions into a sauce pan, bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes.
2. Pour this mixture over the red onions in a bowl, cover with a sheet of kitchen paper, and allow to cool, cover and refrigerate. This tastes even better after a couple of days and will keep for up to two months in your fridge. Fantastic in salads, on burgers, in wraps or draped over chilli con carne or tagines.
Hot honey:
– half a jar of honey
– 10 g of chilli flakes (I used chipotle chilli flakes for smoked flavour)
– 1 fresh chilli chopped.
Method:
1. Heat ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer for approximately five minutes.
2. Infuse for 10 minutes, or longer if you require a hotter honey.
3. Strain or pass through a wire sieve and refrigerate when cool. This is also good over popcorn, chicken wings, pulled pork, and grilled cheese.
Butter board – method:
1. Heat the vegetable oil and drop in the finally sliced garlic cloves. When they are golden remove and drain on kitchen paper (keep this garlic flavoured oil for your stir fry’s).
2. Smear the butters onto your board, scatter the garlic crisps, pistachios, sea salt, and herbs, drizzle over hot honey and serve with warm crusty bread.
Blackberry butter board:
– 200g Irish Gourmet Butter, lightly salted, softened.
– 100g mascarpone cheese mixed with icing sugar to taste or whipped cream.
– 40g of salted pistachios shelled and roughly chopped half blackberry compote mix (see below) – handful of fresh blackberries cut in half.
– Viola flowers to decorate (optional).
Blackberry compote:
– 150g blackberries
– 25g castor sugar
– juice of half lemon
– lemon zest.
Method:
1. Heat the blackberries in a saucepan with the castor sugar. When they start to soften and release their juice add the juice of half a lemon. Turn off the heat and add the lemon zest. I like a zingy compote, but add more sugar if you would prefer a sweeter version.
2. Refrigerate when cool. This compote is delicious on porridge, granola, yoghurt, ice cream, French toast, the list goes on.
Butter board – method:
1. Smear the butter on your board – drop in teaspoons of the mascarpone cheese mixture, lightly scatter with the pistachios and the blackberry compote followed by the fresh blackberries and the flowers if using.
Pear toffee and Biscoff butter board:
– 200g of Irish Gourmet Butter, lightly salted, softened
– 100g of mascarpone cheese sweetened with icing sugar or whipped cream
– 40g of salted pistachios shelled and chopped
– 60ml of toffee sauce (see below)
– 1 pear peeled, and chopped into small dice
– 40g of Biscoff biscuits lightly crushed 2 teaspoons of sea salt.
Homemade toffee sauce:
– 15g of butter
– 75g golden syrup
– 25g light brown sugar
– 60ml double cream.
Method:
1. Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup over a gentle heat, bring to the boil. Let it bubble for two minutes.
2. Take off the heat and stir in the cream. Be careful at this stage as the mixture is very hot. Cool and refrigerate. This sauce is also fabulous on ice cream.
Butter board – method:
1. Smear the softened butter onto your board. Drop teaspoons of mascarpone or cream, scatter with the pistachios, sea salt and diced pear, drizzle with the toffee sauce and finish with the crumbled Biscoff biscuits.
Enjoy!