Garlic butter

Last week I was asked to come up with a recipe using Kerrymaid garlic butter which is new to the market. Easy I thought, who doesn't like garlic butter? I personally love the smell of just baked garlic bread and it tastes delicious too. I sometimes make my own garlic butter (its simple to make and freezes well), sometimes I cheat and buy it and sometimes I use an extra virgin olive oil with garlic (a great store cupboard cheat to have a round).

So I started to think up ideas for a recipe using Kerrymaid garlic butter. Garlic bread - too simple and obvious! (I've included a recipe and pictures any way at the end), or what about rubbing it under the skin of a chicken before roasting it (again possible too simple as a recipe but I bet it would be delicious). Finally I decided on using it to flavour and cook mushrooms to combine with spaghetti. This is a dish based on a recipe for pasta with portobello mushrooms and mascapone I made earlier in the year. I adapted the recipe not long after I blogged it to make it healthier, so I omitted the mascapone and played around with the flavours a bit. I usually cook the mushrooms in olive oil with a couple of cloves of garlic but garlic butter works well as a bit of a cheat. I also think that mushrooms cooked in this way would make a delicious topping for bruschetta.

Spaghetti with mushrooms cooked with garlic, lemon and thyme
Serves 2

200g mushrooms (I use portobello or chestnut but I imagine other varieties would work too), sliced
200g dried spaghetti
Dried thyme (fresh would have been good but I didn't have any).
1-2 sachets of Kerrymaid garlic butter, (plus a splash of olive oil to stop the butter burning)
good splash of white wine
Salt and pepper
zest and juice of half a lemon
Parmesan to serve

Tip: Use a soft toothbrush to brush away any dirt from the mushrooms before slicing them.

• Put a large pan of water on to boil and once it reaches a fast boil add your pasta.
• Meanwhile heat the butter with a splash of olive oil in a large frying pan, sprinkle in a good pinch of dried thyme and the lemon zest.
• Once the frying pan is hot (I cook mushrooms on a high heat so they don't release all their water) add the mushrooms, stir frequently.
• Add a good splash of white wine to the mushrooms shortly after adding them to the pan.
  
• Once the pasta is almost cooked, add the lemon juice to the mushrooms, stir to mix well and season to taste. Then add the pasta to the frying pan.
• Stir to coat the pasta well in the sauce and add pasta water as required to form the desired consistency.Cook for a couple of minutes so the pasta absorbs the flavours.
  
• Serve with grated Parmesan on top.

Garlic bread

I made a simple white bread dough:
250g white bread flour
3g dried yeast
4g salt
about half a tablespoon of olive oil
160ml warm water.

Mixed and kneaded it (for 5 minutes) in my KitchenAid and then left it to rise until doubled in size.
I then halved the dough, made each piece in to an oval shape, pricked all over with a folk and then topped with a couple of knobs of garlic butter on each. Bake for 15 minutes (or until golden) in a 200C oven.
Eat whilst still warm.