RIDE THE NEW WAVE CHIC AND TRENDY, FLAVORED BUTTERS DRESS UP SIMPLE FARE.

Byline: Natalie Haughton Food Editor

Just a dab of butter, combined with herbs and spices, adds an enormous flavor boost to grilled fish and vegetables without too many additional calories.

Dress up steaks, fish, shellfish, chicken, vegetables, pastas - and even breads, waffles and french toast - with chic and trendy flavored or compound butters. They go together almost instantly with just a few ingredients and can add sophisticated, luxurious, rich flavor on a moment's notice.

Peruse restaurant menus and dining tables around the country and you'll find an array of interesting butter creations and flavors served atop entrees or alongside assorted breads these days.

At Casa Antigua in Beverly Hills, customers are greeted with a basket of bread and a container of herbed (cilantro) butter zipped up with lime juice, while at Purple Basil in Calabasas, purple basil butter is presented as a spread for breads.

At Anthony's Fish Grotto in San Diego, diners can enjoy sun-dried tomato garlic butter on Italian bread slices. In addition, orange mint butter tops halibut while parsley butter graces salmon or sole fillets, notes the restaurant's sous chef Roy Rodriguez.

At Chad's in Santa Barbara, a creative rum butter, served with mini banana, rosemary and jalapeno muffins, sports fabulous flavor and adds a new dimension to the bread-and-butter theme. To make it, room-temperature butter is processed with maple syrup and honey (try blending in vanilla another time) in the food processor, then rolled into a log and refrigerated a couple of hours, notes Jean Paul LuVanVi, the restaurant's executive chef.

At serving time, a butter piece is topped with a tablespoon or so of dark rum (151 proof), then lit with a lighter. Once the alcohol evaporates and the flame goes out, the butter is warm and melted - and ready to spread.

Chad's also uses other flavored butters, topping fish with sun-dried tomato butter (enhanced with anchovies, lemon zest and parsley) and steaks with garlic-herb butter.

At Spago, Beverly Hills, executive chef Lee Hefter sauces grilled steaks with wasabi peppercorn butter or Roquefort butter. At Vert in Hollywood, basil butter goes atop tuna or salmon steaks, while escargot float in a pastis (French liqueur) garlic butter.

On the Smith & Wollensky menu in Chicago, you'll find herb butter on swordfish, lemon-lime butter on wall-eyed pike, rosemary or jalapeno butters on other fish (such as halibut, white fish, grouper, red snapper) and anchovy butter on asparagus. The restaurant's Grill offers a popular mustard butter (made with French grainy mustard and dijon) to use for dipping salted pretzel sticks.

The beauty of flavored butters, say Hans Aeschbacher, executive chef at Smith & Wollensky, is that it's feasible to make them as exotic as you like, including items ranging from roasted red peppers to garlic, cilantro, tarragon, mint, parsley, lime and lemon juice and zest, raspberries, oranges, liqueurs and more - and in a variety of combinations. Use your imagination and creativity.

If you keep a medley of flavors stashed in your freezer, you can gussy up a wide range of foods in a flash. The recipes here should get you started on the flavored-butter adventure.

BASIL BUTTER

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

1/2 bunch fresh basil, chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon finely chopped kalamata olives (optional)

Salt and ground pepper to taste

In a food processor or mixing bowl, blend butter and basil. Add lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, olives, salt and pepper. Process or blend until well mixed. Refrigerate or freeze, rolled in a log, if desired. Serve a chilled spoonful or frozen slice atop hot grilled fish or steak. Or serve at room temperature with bread slices. A little of the butter is also good to finish cream-based sauces. Makes about 1 cup butter.

NOTE: Other herbs such as thyme, cilantro, tarragon or rosemary or a combination of herbs may be substituted for basil.

ORANGE BUTTER

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened

Finely grated peel of 1/2 orange

1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate

In a food processor or mixing bowl, combine butter, orange peel and orange juice concentrate and process or mix until well blended. Refrigerate or freeze, rolled in a log, if desired. Use on fish, waffles, pancakes, etc. Makes about 1 cup.

NOTE: Other fruits such as mangoes, raspberries, grapes and tangerines may be substituted for oranges.

HERB BUTTER

1 pound (4 sticks) butter, room temperature

Equivalent of 1 bunch mixed herbs (rosemary, oregano, sage, tarragon, basil, marjoram), chopped

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Salt and ground pepper to taste

In a food processor or mixing bowl, combine butter and chopped herbs. Process or mix. Blend in lemon juice and salt and pepper. Refrigerate or freeze, rolled in a log, if desired. Use on fish, meats, poultry, pastas, breads, etc., as desired. Makes 2 cups.

NOTE: Use any combination of herbs desired.

RED PEPPER BUTTER

1 cup jarred roasted red peppers, rinsed, drained and dried well with paper towels

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 tablespoon dried basil

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin 

1/2 teaspoon garlic pepper

In a food processor, puree red peppers. Add remaining ingredients and process until as smooth as possible. Refrigerate or freeze until serving. Makes about 1 1/3 cups.

SUN-DRIED TOMATO BUTTER

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened

1/2 cup chopped marinated sun-dried tomatoes OR softened (in water and drained) chopped sun-dried tomatoes

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh, minced garlic

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Salt and ground pepper to taste

In a food processor, combine butter, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic and process until well mixed. Fold in toasted pine nuts and salt and pepper. Refrigerate or freeze until serving. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

NOTE: Chopped fresh basil can be added to recipe, if desired.

CHIPOTLE CHILE BUTTER

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) salted butter, very soft

2 tablespoons minced shallots

1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon minced, canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce 

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Stir with fork until uniformly blended. Keep covered and refrigerated until needed. Serve over grilled steaks or with corn bread. Makes about 1/3 cup.

RASPBERRY BUTTER

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened

1/2 cup raspberry jam OR marmalade

1/4 cup fresh raspberries

In a food processor or mixing bowl, process or blend butter, jam and raspberries until completely mixed. Refrigerate until serving time. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

NOTE: Other fruits such as cut-up mangoes, peaches, grapes or tangerines may be substituted for raspberries. Add a dash of lemon juice, if desired.

CHANTERELLE BUTTER

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter, softened

1/2 cup chopped chanterelle mushrooms

1 teaspoon chopped fresh shallots

1 tablespoon white wine

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1/4 teaspoon salt

Dash pepper

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet; add mushrooms and shallots and saute until softened, about 3 minutes. Add wine and lemon juice; cook 1 to 2 minutes longer until liquid has cooked off and mixture is fairly dry. Stir in thyme, salt and pepper and cool.

Meanwhile, spread remaining butter into a 5x5-inch square on plastic wrap. Place on tray and refrigerate 10 minutes or until firm, but not hard. Spread cool mushroom mixture over top. Pull up plastic on one side to roll the butter into a pinwheel shape, enclosing the mushroom filling. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill until firm, or ready to use. Slice with a small, sharp knife and serve over beef, chicken or potatoes.

CARAMELIZED ONION BUTTER

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon EACH chopped fresh basil, parsley, thyme and chives 

In a skillet, cook onion with 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 10 minutes; cool. In a food processor, combine onion with remaining ingredients; process until finely chopped. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes about 3/4 cup.

GARLIC BASIL BUTTER

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon anise liqueur (optional)

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/8 teaspoon EACH salt and pepper

Place garlic in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add remaining ingredients. Process until finely chopped. Refrigerate or freeze until needed. Serve over cooked meats, poultry, fish or vegetables. Makes about 1/2 cup.

Make flavored butter like the chefs

It's easy to add flavors to butter. Although some recipes call for simply mixing the ingredients together in a bowl, most chefs recommend preparing compound butters in a food processor for best results. It not only simplifies the job but helps aerate and fluff the mixture and absorb any liquids used, says Spago's Lee Hefter.

While making small batches is feasible in a mini food processor, many chefs suggest using a pound of butter (in a standard-size processor) and freezing any extra for later use.

Chefs also advise using unsalted butter. That way you can control the seasonings and flavor and build the butter creation from scratch, notes Hans Aeschbacher of Smith & Wollensky.

Although Hefter enjoys fancy and imported butters such as Plugra, he notes that it's not necessary to use the most expensive varieties in compound butters (he uses Altadena).

However, it is important to use good-quality butter (brand doesn't matter), stresses Aeschbacher, who usually uses Land O'Lakes.

Leave the butter out an hour before preparing a flavored butter, advises Hefter. ``You want the butter soft, but not melted, so when you infuse flavors they go in easily.''

For his basil butter, Hefter deviates from the norm. He adds some olive oil (about 1/2 cup) and a couple of cloves of garlic to the food processor and with it running tosses in 1/2 cup basil leaves, resulting in a bright green puree. Then he adds a little salt and a pound of unsalted soft butter, piece by piece, which allows the butter to emulsify with the oil. ``It makes it almost like pesto butter.'' Besides using it on fish, a little of this butter is great for finishing a cream sauce for pasta.

Hefter makes Roquefort butter by combining soft butter with shallots, green peppercorns and chopped parsley in the food processor until blended, then removing and folding in chunks of Roquefort cheese. No olive oil or garlic here.

Wasabi butter goes together in the food processor with butter, green peppercorns, lemon juice, wasabi paste, chopped shallots, chopped garlic, chopped parsley, salt and black pepper.

Once finished, most chefs recommend shaping the butter into small logs (with the help of parchment paper or plastic wrap). Store logs, well wrapped to prevent them from absorbing other flavors, in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer up to a month or even two or three.

Slice a piece of butter off and use it out of the fridge or freezer. No need to thaw. Hefter prefers using the butter straight from the freezer as it keeps the flavor until the butter is needed.

When you add a butter slice to hot grilled steak or a piece of fish, it will melt, adding wonderful flavor and moisture without the necessity of making a sauce.

Try flavored butters like orange, strawberry or raspberry on waffles, crepes or french toast. Or stuff herb butters under the skin of half a boned chicken before roasting. When you need to doll up foods quickly, rely on flavored make-ahead butters.

- N.H.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Spreading luxury, chef style

Compound butters boost flavor fast

(2 -- color) no caption (Butter)

(3) no caption (Butter varieties)

Box: Make flavored butter like the chefs (see text)