Easy Herbs: 3/15: Tarragon

Fifteen Easy Herbs
No. 3 Tarragon
If you have room for only one herb plant, make it Artemisia dracunculus. It’s easy to grow, and enticing in so many foods. A bit of interesting etymology: the Latin dracunculus means “little dragon” as does the French estragon, hence the English tarragon. Who named this innocent plant? Is it because of its serpentine root system? Or because the anise or licorice-like flavor numbs your tongue in a scary way? If you are interested in herbal lore you’ll enjoy researching the uses of tarragon through the ages.

How to grow it:
This is the easy part. Tarragon is a perennial: buy a plant at the nursery, plant it in your sunny spot in rich, well-drained soil, and it stays there for years! It hunkers down in winter (goes dormant); this is when you cut off the dead stems. Then new stems grow in early spring. What could be easier? You can even cut pieces of the branches that have become woody by early summer, stick them in the ground or in a flowerpot, and grow more plants! Get the French variety; a plant labeled Russian tarragon won’t have as much flavor.

How to eat it:
Eat it fresh or cooked—this is easy, too. Tarragon flavors so many foods well: vinegar, tuna (pile it on a tuna sandwich and let it burn your tongue!), savory sauces (especially bernaise), meats, vegetables, dairy foods, poultry (put a few tarragon branches inside a chicken before roasting) and salad dressings.
Next herb: Lemon Balm, to make your own soothing herb tea.

Tarragon Vinegar
Fresh tarragon branches
Apple cider vinegar

Use a clean bottle or jar with a lid or cork closure. (You can use a vinegar bottle, a pop bottle, a water bottle, a liquor bottle, whatever you want, and label it.) Stuff it full of tarragon branches, and fill with vinegar to cover all the leaves. Close the lid. Set it on a sunny windowsill for a couple of weeks, then store in the pantry. Use tarragon vinegar in any recipe listing cider vinegar and it subs well for wine vinegar, too.

Tarragon Chicken
1 fryer chicken, cut up
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
1/4 cup minced onion
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the chicken pieces in butter with 1 tablespoon of the fresh tarragon. Remove the chicken and reserve.
Sauté the onion in the pan drippings until soft. Stir in the wine, salt and pepper.
Return the chicken to the skillet, spoon the wine mixture over it, and cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes, until chicken is almost tender.
Whisk the flour and milk together thoroughly. Increase heat under the skillet until the liquid is bubbling. Add the milk mixture, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens and bubbles. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of tarragon. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer 10 minutes. Serve with rice. Serves 4.