Parmesan Sage Butter

One of my go-to herbs for fall cooking is fresh sage. The velvety texture and rich, woodsy flavor add a great dimension to autumnal dishes. As Thanksgiving nears, I find myself gravitating towards comforting, earthy flavors. This parmesan sage compound butter is a great addition to any Thanksgiving feast! It is especially tasty melted over roasted butternut squash. How would you eat parmesan sage butter?

Ingredients for Parmesean Sage Butter

1/2 c. butter
2 tbsp. sage, fried and crushed
2 tbsp. parmesan, grated
a pinch of sea salt
a pinch of freshly ground pepper

For the fried sage leaves:

4 tbsp. butter, browned
40 leaves of fresh sage

Slowly melt 2 tbsp. of butter in a medium-sized, light-colored skillet over medium heat.  As the butter melts, stir frequently. Keep a close watch on the color of the butter. The butter will change from a pale yellow to a golden hue. Once you see light brown specks appear, add your sage leaves to the browned butter. Reduce the heat to low-medium to prevent the butter from burning. Fry the sage leaves on both sides until they stop sizzling and have a nice dark, green color. Remove fried sage leaves from skillet and let cool on plate. Though you won’t use the browned butter for this parmesan sage compound butter, you can save it for another dish. The sage-infused browned butter will be delicious drizzled over any pasta!

Sage leaves vary in size. For 1/2 c. of parmesan sage butter, I used approximately 40 small leaves. However, if you have a lot large leaves you might only need to use 20-30 leaves. Remember: you want 2 tbsp. of fried, crushed sage leaves to add to the compound butter.

Put 1/2 c. of freshly churned butter in a mixing bowl. Grate your parmesan and add 2 tbsp. to the butter. Once sage leaves are cool, roughly chop them into small pieces. Add 2 tbsp. of crushed sage leaves to the butter. Add a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper to the mixture. Stir all of the ingredients together in your mixing bowl.

Once mixed, pack the butter into a ramekin or shape into a log using plastic wrap. Let the butter chill in the refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes prior to serving.