Herb Inspirations

Here’s a pet peeve: buying a whole bag of cilantro or one of those $1.99+ plastic cases of fresh herbs, only to use one fingerful and a week later find the remainder has turned to swamp in my fridge.

And one day, it dawned on me: Enough—I’m growing my own herbs! That was the same week Michelle Obama announced the White House garden. Heck, I thought, I’ll grow my own vegetables while I’m at it! Farm party in my bedroom!

The nice lady at the plant store down Metropolitan Avenue very gently and sweetly helped me manage expectations and steered me toward getting just one little herb plant that might actually grow on my indoor windowsill here in my New Yawk City apartment: tarragon!

Vegetables I realized were beyond me, and even things like basil and cilantro are kind of finicky, she said, but tarragon was a good place to start. Lucky me, I love tarragon—sort of grassy, sort of licoricey, and distinct without, in my opinion, overpowering other flavors.

My plant is not the most robust example of the species, and it can get downright scraggly when I forget to water it, but it’s flourished well enough that I can snip off some leaves every week or so for a fresh infusion to my dinner. And with all the cookbooks and food blogs out there, it’s nice to have one parameter already defined. Search recipes by ingredient = tarragon, and let’s see what comes up!

There’s the above-pictured Salmon Baked in White Wine and Tarragon (adapted from a fine text that I think got re-gifted to me, Capital Classics: Recipes from the Junior League of Washington).

4 salmon steaks (or just a big ol’ filet!, is what I do!)
2 T butter
1/8 t salt
1/4 t pepper (this recipe calls for white pepper, which I’ve never had, so I can’t say black works just as well, but I can say it works)
2 T lemon juice
1/2 t tarragon

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place salmon in greased baking dish and dot with butter.
Mix lemon juice and wine and pour over fish.
Sprinkle remaining ingredients over fish.
Bake uncovered until cooked all the way through (how I like it), about 10 minutes per inch of thickness.

And with a Julie and Julia-inspired desire to conquer my fear of opaque white sauces, I tried a recipe called Pan-Seared Chicken with Tarragon Butter Sauce. No getting around it, that sauce is butter. I liked it a lot, and not just because it made me feel sophisticated. So sophisticated I forgot to take a picture—sorry!

Pan-Seared Chicken with Tarragon Butter Sauce (adapted from Gourmet)
1/3 cup finely chopped shallot
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 lb thin-sliced skinless boneless chicken breasts
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (my addition)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Pat chicken dry and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper, reserving 1/4 t salt and 1/8 t pepper for later.
Heat oil in skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Sauté chicken in 3 or 4 batches, turning over once, until golden and just cooked through, about 3 minutes per batch. Put on a platter and cover loosely with foil.
Cook shallot in 1 T butter until soft, over moderate heat.
Add garlic and cook for a minute.
Add wine and cook until most is evaporated.
Turn heat down a bit and add butter one T at a time, whisking as you go.
Remove from heat and whisk in tarragon, parsley, lemon juice, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.
Spoon sauce over chicken to serve.

On a romantic whim, I titled this post “Herb Inspirations.” So here goes. Fresh tarragon inspiration number 1: Cook more with white wine, butter and lemon.