Overwhipped some cream while trying to get stiff peaks to frost a chiffon cake...A minute or two later...the sound of buttermilk sloshing within chunks of butter could be heard from the food processor...Was also trying to experiment whipping cream with a processor blade. It turns out it was very hard to estimate the stages....stiff peak to you ending with butter is a fine line....

It was a good mistake because I unintentionally made butter. Nothing more luscious like homemade butter. When I was in Paris, the food they serve, steak and chips, nothing fancy but what really makes all the difference was the seasoned butter dolloped over the steak, meltingly sexy and beautiful.

I have used orange parsley combination. They are amazing dolloped on steak or even brushed on Hasselback Potatoes too. Simply whip 2 cups of cream until it separates and starts to slosh away in its own buttermilk. You will end up with a cup or so of butter. Separate them from the buttermilk, drink them as they are or use them in pancakes, muffins or make buttermilk ice cream. Just do not throw them away because they are way better than those stuffs you get from the sueprmarket. Place the butter in a sieve and wash it under running tap water until clean. Water in Australia are generally clean. If you feel uncomfortable, simply place the butter back into the food processor and blitz them with clean cold water until the water runs clear and are no longer cloudy. This way, your butter would last longer in the fridge...

Gently pat it dry and throw in the zest of one orange and half a bunch of finely chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste and you are done. They are dead easy to make and you could pipe them into rosette and place them in a small dipping dish, a couple of rosettes of butter per person or just place them on a sheet of cling wrap and form it back into a log shape and twist both ends, so they look like little sausages. Firm them up in the refrigerator, remove from the plastic wrap and slice into round discs...Or be all lazy like me, just dollop them away....

I have demonstrated a couple of ways to utilize the seasoned butter. This is just really what I do with it... Lightly salt and pepper some French Lamb Cutlets and pan fry them, 3 minutes on each side, resting them for 3 minutes, loosely covered in foil. Dollop the seasoned butter over them and serve immediately with your favourite side of either a potato dish or a garden salad.

I then realise burnt butter could be very amazing too...I melt them in the pan and use the seasoned butter and a dash of EVOO to pan-fry the lamb cutlets. The EVOO would prevent the butter from burning too quickly before the lamb cutlets are done. Pan fry the cutlets until the butter is at the cusp of burning and remove it from the pan. This also crisp up the parsley bits nicely and some warm Turkish bread would be yummy to soak up the butter....

I also ended up liking the seasoned butter with paprika and chilli. You could do a Fish en Papillote, which really means fish in a paper/foil bag. Simply lay out a baking paper on a piece of foil and crack some pepper on it, a dash of salt and some hot paprika and chili powder over it. Dollop the seasoned butter around, lay the fish on top and smear it with more butter. I seriously am a dairy freak, you do not need to be so generous with the butter like me....Wrap the foil bag up and tuck in them ends to seal the parcel completely and bake it until it is done, mine took 15mins in a hot oven.

That is about it really....I believe cooking could be very easy and fun and it really is nothing more than going back to basic and make your own butter, season it with herbs and citrus zest (lemon thyme butter is truly amazing too....or you could also do a spiced butter with paprika,cumin and cardamom powder too!) and serve it with basically any meat you like...

Hopefully this will encourage more people to cook. I did not pick up cooking until I was forced to three years ago and have never looked back ever since then...More frequent updates to come...I promise it will be simple.

Good night....