Tarragon
"A glorious, underused herb, tarragon is packed with a fabulous and unique flaavour: vegetal, anise-tinged and sweet. The taste is quite refined but also penetrating - it's certainly not a background herb. There really is no completely satisfactory substitute for it (chervil is probably the closest you'll get, though it's more subtle)." Nicki Duffy - River Cottage A-Z
Last week, or was it the week before - I bought a bunch of tarragon from the market. It was the first I had seen for the year, and so I grabbed it. I actually do have some in my garden, which dies right back in the winter and sometimes comes back. This year it didn't come back so I bought a new plant which is beginning to get going. Not enough to harvest as yet though.
I agree with absolutely everything that Nicki Duffy says about tarragon. I just love it and it's one of those few vegetal things that remains seasonal. It's also one of those herbs that sort of takes over when you cook with it - like basil or rosemary - so you don't generally mix it with anything else - except in that French mix of herbs called fines herbs. And you shouldn't use too much at a time, though I confess I was pretty generous with it in the chicken dish I devised the day before yesterday.
"Tarragon goes wrong when it is used in quantity. Without the balming effect of cream, its bitterness can damage a dish. Infuriatingly, the intensity varies without warning depending on season and variety." Nigel Slater
"With its aniseedy, liquoricey punch, its slight pepperiness and its hints of pine, tarragon is not something to use with a heavy hand, but in the right quantities and the right company, it can be sublime." Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
I also committed another crime in that I added the tarragon to the dish early on, and to be honest I reckon this is Ok and there are plenty of recipes out there to prove it.
It is most famous, of course, for its affinity with chicken and my favourite chicken dish features it. I've probably told you about it before, but just in case. Here it is - Chicken with sherry vinegar and tarragon sauce from Delia. I can't tell you how delicious this is. The very first time we had it I was blown away - and it was largely because of the tarragon. Mind you it's not a dish you make very often because it has expensive ingredients like actual sherry (quite a lot), sherry vinegar (a bit difficult to find) and shallots.
There are lots of chicken recipes out there that feature tarragon of course - from roasts to casseroles, to salads. So I thought I would see what else it is used for.
Well Béarnaise sauce first of all. And Nigel Slater, who claims he uses very few recipes by other people, swears by Nigella's Steak béarnaise. But Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has a recipe too.
It's a classic that Nigella swears is her desert island dish. And you know I don't think I have ever made it, so I should have a go. How hard can it be? Well a little bit tricky because béarnaise sauce is a variation of hollandaise which is a sauce thickened with egg. But I've done that, so béarnaise shouldn't be all that tricky. I gather that it should also have chervil, but that is next to impossible to get here, so I'll just have to leave it out, which Nigella says is OK. Because tarragon is the thing.
There is also tarragon vinegar, which seems to have died in popularity these days. These days it's all balsamic vinegar with lots of additives and variations. You don't tend to see a lot of tarragon vinegar. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has a recipe for it though.
He also describes another sauce that features tarragon and tarragon vinegar called ravigote sauce:
"chop lots of tarragon, chives, chervil, parsley and watercress, and mix them with some chopped anchovies, capers and cornichons, then stir in some olive oil, a tiny splash of tarragon vinegar, a little lemon juice and a dab of Dijon mustard."
It is also a classic, but I wondered what today's celebrity chefs are doing with tarragon - if anything. And it turns out that some of them are not really venturing much beyond chicken if they use it at all.
Jamie Oliver has an interesting dish - Salmon with rhubarb sauce and tarragon mayo, but the interest is more in the rhubarb sauce. Tarragon mayonnaise is a pretty conventional thing - most often used with eggs and salads.
Donna Hay has lots of recipes, mostly chicken and mostly very tempting looking. There are quite a few fish recipes too and salad, but the one I have picked out is a pasta - Porcini and tarragon rigatoni.
I had to include Nigel Slater, although he too mostly sticks to chicken but he does also have a fish recipe - sea bass with tarragon flageolet beans and a rabbit recipe which is simply called Rabbit with tarragon
Bill Granger goes for soup - Fennel, spinach and tarragon soup with ricotta and chilli, which I guess is very modern.
So if you see some at a market - or even in your local supermarket, buy some and experiment. Even if you just make a stuffing for roast chicken. But make sure it's French tarragon. Russian tarragon is no good. Smell before you buy.
As for its name:
"Its botanical name, Artemisia dracunculus, is a French corruption of the Latin word for dragon, perhaps because its roots twist and turn like a dragon's body, or because it was thought to soothe snake bites. Its modern French name, estragon, means little dragon."
I think this was from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
