Two Tablespoons of Butter Convert Leftover Bits of "This and That" into Gourmet-Worthy Dinner

Herb Butter: 

Sauted onions, garlic, and celery with dried basil and diced parsley 

If you've been following our February is National Potluck Month posts you may be thinking, "I've seen this dish before.  Actually, I saw it yesterday."  

Well, you'd be right. You can scroll down to the previous post to find the simple recipe.This was not the story I planned to tell today, but I discovered with delight that making the herb butter yesterday enabled me to get dinner on the table today in ten minutes. 

We'd had a larger lunch than normal and so I thought we might just skip supper. But then we both got a bit peckish. I started rummaging about in the fridge and bumped into two small zucchini.  I could saute them in some of the herb butter. So I sliced them and tossed them into a skillet with the butter and cooked over medium heat for a few minutes and then lowered the heat and put on the lid. Needed more than just the zucchini, so I pulled out the last little bit of ham.  I had thought I'd chop and make it into a sandwich spread. Instead, I sliced it thinly and tossed it into the zucchini.  One more look in the fridge uncovered the last bits of asparagus -- maybe ten thin spears that had been "just too much" for dinner two nights ago. So into the skillet they went, too. 

The entire dish cooked in less than ten minutes. With some bread and a bit of cole slaw made for the sack of cabbage and bottled dressing, we had a fine meal. 

But we didn't eat it all. There is enough left to be combined with a couple of eggs to make a free-form omelet for lunch tomorrow. 

All made possible with a bit of herb butter that had just the right flavors to unite and elevate the simple leftovers into a delightful dinner. 

I don't know what is more Potluck Paradise Perfect than that!

Great Spice Blends Created Nearly 100 Years Apart Easily Enhance Meats and Vegetables

Spices blend following an 1857 recipe

pepper, dry mustard, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg

When we were doing research into recipes from the 1850s, 60's and 70s, we encountered a number of articles in cookbooks, and farming or women's magazines of the day offering up spice blends. These home concocted mixes of seasonings are often a fusion of herb and spice. Some featured dried herbs as well as ground spices. All of them lend a delicious difference to pots of soup, sauces, or as with the spice blend below to "forcemeats and gravy."

A forcement is a kind of small meatball with crumbs of buttered bread bound together with beaten egg. Victorian soups weren't complete unless they had a couple of forcemeat balls leading a savory spiciness to rich broth.  Well, here at Potluck Paradise headquarters we're not often into dusting off the soup tureen, but we have found that forcemeat makes a nice stuffing for broiled mushroom caps or they are quite tasty by themselves as a small appetizer meatball.

When we were studying kitchens and homemaking during the 1950s, we found other kinds of blends to dress up cooked vegetables. Here, busy cooks seeking to add a bit of elegance to fresh or canned vegetables could toss the pound of carrots with a quarter of a cup of mint jelly. Or they could cook up this compound butter to toss with green beans, asparagus, or other green vegetable.  Once made, it is easy to keep on hand in the refrigerator for a couple of days or in the freezer for weeks. Freeze it in a flat container and then you can easily slice off a gold and green "bar" to toss into the drained vegetables.

1857 Herb Blend for Forcemeat and Gravy

1/2 cup ground black pepper
1/4 cup ground ginger
1/4 cup ground nutmeg
1/4 cup ground cinnamon
1/8 cup cloves

Mix the spices in a container and store in a dry place. When ready to use add a half teaspoon to a cup of gravy. For making meatballs with a pound of meat, start with 1/2 teaspoon for mild and 1 teaspoon for strong flavor.

1950s Herb Butter Blend

1 stick butter
1/4 cup minced celery
3/4 cup minced onion
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried basel
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Melt the butter in a medium frying pan. Add the celery and onion and cook about five minutes until the onion is transparent. Add the remaining ingredients, lower heat and cover. Cook for ten minutes, stirring from time to time.  Store in refrigerator of freezer. Use about a tablespoon to a serving of vegetables.