Tarragon Recipes

Tarragon Pronounced: TEHR-uh-gon

An herb with narrow, pointed, gray-green leaves with a distinctive anise or licorice flavor. Only the leaves are edible. Tarragon is excellent with seafood, fruits, poultry, eggs and most vegetables, as well as sauces, particularly bearnaise sauce. Tarragon can easily dominate other flavors, and care should be taken when using tarragon. Tarragon leaves should be used fresh, as the aroma of dried tarragon is usually very weak. French or german tarragon is sweet and aromatic, reminiscent of fennel, anise and licorice. Russian tarragon has coarser, paler leaves and is not fragrant and tastes slightly bitter. The french variety is most often used in cooking.

Ingredient

Season: available year-round

Matches well with: artichokes, bearnaise sauce, carrots, chicken, eggs, fish, lobster, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, rabbit, salads, shellfish, sole, spinach, stuffings, tomatoes, veal

Béarnaise sauce

Béarnaise sauce
Béarnaise sauce. The basic sauce is smooth; chopped herbs were added to finish it.
Alternative names	Choron sauce
Place of origin	Paris, France
Main ingredients	egg yolk, clarified butter, white wine vinegar
Cookbook:Béarnaise sauce   Béarnaise sauce

Béarnaise sauce is a sauce made of clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks, white wine vinegar and flavored with herbs. It is considered to be a 'child' of the mother Hollandaise sauce, one of the five sauces in the French haute cuisinemother sauce repertoire.^[1] The difference is only in their flavoring: Béarnaise uses shallot, chervil, peppercorn, and tarragon, while Hollandaise uses lemonjuice or white wine. Its name is related to the province of Béarn, France.

In appearance, it is light yellow and opaque, smooth and creamy.

Béarnaise is a traditional sauce for steak.^[2][3]

Contents

  

• 1 History
• 2 Preparation
• 3 Derivatives of Béarnaise sauce
• 4 Mis-association
• 5 Notes
• 6 References
• 7 External links

History

The sauce was likely first created by the chef Collinet, the inventor of puffed potatoes (pommes de terre soufflées), and served at the 1836 opening of Le Pavillon Henri IV, a restaurant at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, not far from Paris. Evidence for this is reinforced by the fact that the restaurant was named for Henry IV of France, a gourmet himself, who was born in the province of Béarn.^[4]

Preparation

A Béarnaise sauce is simply clarified butter, an egg yolk, a shallot, a little tarragon vinegar. It takes years of practice for the result to be perfect.^[5]

Like Hollandaise sauce, there are several methods for the preparation of Béarnaise sauce. The most common preparation is a bain-marie method where a reduction of vinegar is used to acidify the yolks. Escoffier^[6] calls for a reduction of wine, vinegar, shallots, fresh chervil, fresh tarragon and crushed peppercorns (later strained out), with fresh tarragon and chervil to finish instead of lemon juice. Others are similar.^[7] Alternatively, the flavorings may be added to a finished Hollandaise (sans lemon juice). Joy of Cooking^[8] describes a blender preparation with the same ingredients. A faux Béarnaise can be produced by adding capers and tarragon to a Hollandaise.^[9]

Derivatives of Béarnaise sauce

• Sauce Choron is a variation of béarnaise without tarragon or chervil, plus added tomato purée.^[10][11] It is named afterAlexandre Étienne Choron.
• Sauce Foyot (a.k.a. Valois) is béarnaise with meat glaze (Glace de Viande) added.^[12][13]
• Sauce Colbert is Sauce Foyot with the addition of reduced white wine.^[14]
• Sauce Paloise is a version of béarnaise with mint substituted for tarragon.^[15]

Mis-association

Béarnaise sauce is often referred to as Bernaise sauce, as if it were from Bern, the capital city of Switzerland, which is in no way connected with this sauce or its origins.^[16] The sauce's name refers to the Béarn region, a former province now in thedépartement of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in southwestern France.

Notes

1. Jump up^ The family is sometimes referred to as "mayonnaise sauces" as they are, like mayonnaise, based on the emulsion of an oil in egg yolk.
2. Jump up^ Escoffier: 89
3. Jump up^ Julia Child
4. Jump up^ Bearn
5. Jump up^ Restaurateur Fernand Point (1897–1955) in Ma Gastronomie.
6. Jump up^ Escoffier: 89
7. Jump up^ Cookwise, pp.304-5
8. Jump up^ Joy of Cooking p.359
9. Jump up^ Cookwise, pp.302-3.
10. Jump up^ Escoffier: 90
11. Jump up^ Joy of Cooking p.359
12. Jump up^ Escoffier: 91
13. Jump up^ Joy of Cooking p.359
14. Jump up^ Escoffier: 41
15. Jump up^ Escoffier: 141
16. Jump up^http://www.cookthink.com/reference/2617/What_is_Bearnaise_sauce

References[edit]

• Child, Julia; Louisette Bertholle; Simone Beck (1961). Mastering the Art of French Cooking. New York: Knopf.

• Corriher, Shirley (1997). "Ch. 4: sauce sense". Cookwise, the Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking (1st ed.). New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc. ISBN 0688102298.

• David, Elizabeth (1960). French Provincial Cooking. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-118153-0.

• Escoffier, Auguste (1982) [Trans. fm 4th French (Flammarion) ed. 1921]. "Ch. 1: Sauces". La Guide Culinaire [The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery] (in French). English translation by H.L. Cracknell and R.J. Kaufmann (First American ed.). New York: Mayflower Books. ISBN 0-8317-5478-8.
• Rombauer, Irma S.; Rombauer Becker, Marion (1975). Joy of Cooking. New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. (MacMillan). ISBN 0-02-604570-2.

Bearnaise Sauce

Total Time:
15 min
Prep:
5 min
Cook:
10 min

Yield:4 to 6 servings 

Ingredients
1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon leaves
2 shallots, minced
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
1/4 cup dry white wine
3 egg yolks
1 stick butter, melted
Salt and pepper
Directions
Make the bearnaise reduction first. In a small saucepan, combine the tarragon, shallots, vinegar and wine over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by half. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Blend yolks and bearnaise reduction together. With the blender running, add 1/3 of the butter in a slow steady stream. Once it emulsifies, turn the blender speed up to high and add the remaining butter. Season with salt and pepper and set aside in a warm spot to hold the sauce.

Tuna Tarragon Pasta Salad



Total Time:
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
30 mins
15 mins
15 mins

DRESSING
1 cup mayonnaise or 1 cup salad dressing
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice or 1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon dried tarragon
1 tablespoon dijon-style mustard
1 teaspoon sugar (1 to 2 teaspoons, to taste)
SALAD
2 (12 ounce) cans tuna in water, drained (or albacore)
2 cups frozen green peas, no need to thaw
1 lb shell pasta, cooked to al dente, drained and cooled
1/4 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1/8 teaspoon pepper (to taste)

Orange Roughy With Tarragon and Vegetables

Total Time:
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
25 mins
10 mins
15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings:
4

4 orange roughy fillets
1 zucchini, julienned
1 small red pepper, julienned
1/2 cup red onion, sliced
2 carrots, julienned
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
Directions:

1
Preheat grill.
2
Heat oil in large skillet and quickly cook vegetables (about 2-3 minutes on a medium-high heat).
3
Take four large pieces of aluminum foil. Place one piece of fish on each.
4
Top with 1/2 tablespoon butter, 1/4 of the vegetables and 1/4 of the tarragon.
5
Repeat for the other pieces.
6
Wrap tightly and place on grill.
7
Grill over a medium heat for 12 - 18 minutes. Open carefully because the steam can be very hot.

Chicken Salad with Tarragon

Inspiration for good food can be found anywhere, even Starbucks, where I had a delicious chicken salad sandwich recently. The key ingredients other than chicken? Cranberries and tarragon. French tarragon is a distinctive herb, with a slight anise or licorice aroma. We don’t use it that often; I grew some last year and don’t think we used it more than once or twice the whole season. But it does pair well with chicken. The dried cranberries add some sweetness to the chicken salad, and the lemon juice just enough acidity to brighten all the flavors.

 Tarragon Chicken Salad


Total Time:
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
50 mins
20 mins
30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings:
5
Units: US | Metric
4 chicken breasts
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 celery ribs
1/4 cup walnuts
1 tablespoon dried tarragon
salt and pepper
Directions:

1
Bake (~25min) or boil chicken breasts (~45min) until tender and cooked through.
2
Cut breasts into bite-sized pieces.
3
Discard skin and bones if you did not use boneless, skinless breasts.
4
Whisk sour cream and mayonnaise together and pour over chicken.
5
Add celery, walnuts, tarragon, salt and pepper to taste and toss well.
6
Refrigerate and enjoy!