You know, The Goddess has mentioned now and then how much she enjoys condiments…Okay, she tends to go on bit about them.  And with good reason.  Compound or flavored butters are condiments, too.  And this is one of the best.  I just want to take a moment and apologize for my absence.  I’ve been in the middle of moving, yet again!  Yes, we have left South Florida in the rear view mirror and moved to the Carolinas.  We’re going to see how we like it here…so far, we love it!  The people are lovely, warm and so helpful.  It’s civilized.  The Goddess is hip-deep in boxes.  Yes, she packed up the apartment herself and what was she thinking?  But, alas, we’re here and we’re settling in, so “I’m back”…with a vengeance.  I hope you’re still here, too.  If not, I understand.

So, on to today’s recipe….there’s not much to say about this lovely butter, except that, it’s exceptional.  It really is difficulty to beat this butter melted and oozing into a good burger or a steak hot off the grill.  So, it’s really more of a sauce, isn’t it?  And who really cares?  It’s just delicious and it goes together in a flash.  We love it on steak.

About that…I’ve been experimenting with frying steaks frozen.  Right out of the freezer, no thawing, and into a hot cast iron skillet.  I’ve read about this for some time now, and Fine Cooking® just recently did a piece on it, so The Goddess decided, “It’s time!”  I followed their instructions, but their timing didn’t work for me.  The steak was great, but it took almost twice as long as they suggested, and there were some other little things that The Goddess wasn’t happy about.  The concept however, is a sound one, so the experimentation will continue…I’ll keep you posted.You simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir it together.  I use a for to mash the bleu cheese up a bit, then switch to a spatula and stir and fold the mixture unto itself until it’s completely combined.  These are more or less the ration, 1:1 butter to bleu cheese.  But, if you want to add more bleu cheese, that’s up to you.  I like to choose a bleu cheese that has a relatively strong or pronounced flavor.  If it’s a soft bleu cheese, then you can just stir the two room temperature ingredients, butter and cheese, together.  But, if you choose a firm bleu cheese, I’ve found it works best when I grate it cold, into the room temperature butter.  Then walk away and play a game of solitaire.  One does not live by compound butters alone, okay?  When you return, the cheese will have softened enough to combine the ingredients easily.  I usually make this several days ahead.  That way, it’s done.  It’s ready to use.  And more importantly, it will taste better.  You’re going to need to remove the bleu butter from the fridge at least 20 minutes before you’re going to schmear it!  It needs to be at room temp when you use it.  You want that butter to melt into the meat a bit.  I usually just use a knife and smear some on the hot meat or vegetables.

I did drizzle some this loveliness over roasted asparagus, as well as some green beans…delicious!