Fragrant Sage Butter with Herbs

In time, you will see not only more of my love for baking, but also my passion for traditional food that heralds back to times gone by, and that will stay with us as a fundamental piece of British food. Chief among those examples, personally for me, is the classic British roast. If I ran the country, it would be made law every day of rest to have this really timeless treat - golden roasties cooked with goose fat, garlic and rosemary; sprouts, homemade Yorkshire puddings that rise in the oven to touch the sky; and some fabulous wintery vegetables such as parsnips, carrots and turnips. To me, nothing beats this and I love nothing more than spending two or three hours in the kitchen creating these sorts of dishes. To finish off, you need good gravy (I aspire to my Dad's standard!) and a good bottle of red wine. And sometimes, its the small things that really make that dish pure magic. One thing can be the butter that you can add to your veg and potatoes. I know of a really simple, cost-efficient and creative way to make that butter pop...

Hands on time - 5 mins approx. 

Ingredients 

- 150g butter (salted or unsalted optional). 

- 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped (optional). 

- 1 pinch salt/1 pinch pepper.

- various other herbs (optional). 

- a hand full of fresh sage leaves, finely chopped. 

Method 

1. cut up your butter into small cubes and add to a small pan and put on a medium heat. Allow the butter to melt but keep moving it around. 

2. Add your garlic cloves, finely chopped. At this point garlic cloves are not essential, this is just my preference as garlic is an extremely strong smell and adds to the fragrance. If you so wish, add finely chopped rosemary/thyme/tarragon - be as creative as you like. I would say if you add all these, however, it becomes a herbal butter as the title suggests, but there are no rules! 

3. Add your finely chopped sage with salt and pepper and stir until it bubbles, this should only take around 3-4 mins, and trust me, it is so fragrant and tastes seriously delicious. It is even more magical if the sage is picked straight from your garden; you cannot get any fresher! This is great with roast pork, potatoes and vegetables. Enjoy!