Give Butter A Punch Of Umami With One Leftover Oil

There's nothing like repurposing leftovers to lessen food waste and transform your favorites into a completely new format. Whether you're tossing your favorite meat, veggies, and cheese into a casserole dish for a dinnertime bake, turning leftover cake slices into ice cream sandwiches for dessert, or even figuring out how to utilize the residual oil in your favorite canned fish, there's a place for all leftovers provided they haven't gone past their prime. With regard to fish oil in particular, you might be surprised to find that anchovy oil delivers a blast of umami to butter with a wide variety of applications.

If you're getting ready to toss out a tin, consider trying one of the many creative ways to use anchovy oil and retain this bit of liquid gold for use in a delightful compound butter. The fish flavors and rich texture of the oil will add an extra element of depth to your butter by combining two different fats that complement one another. For a perfectly salty compound butter, pop open a can of anchovies and taste the delicious difference.

Be mindful of the salt content already present in your butter to avoid risking an overly salty combination. The simple method for making compound butter is to whip it up in a food processor, roll it into a log shape and wrap it, and then pop it into the fridge to let everything set. From there, you can use your anchovy oil butter in a number of dishes.

Using anchovy oil-infused butter

There are plenty of ways to add flavor to butter and even more ways to enjoy the butter once it's infused and ready for use. With anchovy oil compound butter, the savory possibilities are nearly endless. To begin with, the most obvious choice with a butter as rich and umami-flavored as this one, is to spread it on a nice slice of freshly baked crusty bread. Try it with an easy French bread recipe, for example. Getting a little more adventurous, you can use this anchovy oil compound butter as a sauce for your favorite roasted vegetables. The fish flavor will add a wonderful element of rich savory goodness.

If you want to get even more experimental with this magical mixture of anchovy oil and butter, try using it as a marinade on your favorite fish dish such as baked salmon or oven-broiled tuna steaks. If you want to mix up your proteins, you can top a sizzling steak with a dollop of anchovy oil-infused butter or use it as a rub for a roasted chicken.

For a quick snack that packs a punch, toss popcorn in your melted compound butter. You can also add a dash of it to any of your favorite soups or stews to liven up the mixture. However you choose to use your infused butter, it will make your food both fantastic and fish-tastic!