Adding Flavor to Your Meals: Cooking With Fresh Herbs

There is nothing like the taste of fresh herbs in your cooking. Even if you don’t have a sunny window in your home for growing herbs throughout the year, you can still take advantage of spring and summer for growing a few of your favorite culinary herbs outside. And although heavy rainfall this spring has set the growing season back a few weeks, local garden centers like Petittis have plenty of starter plants to choose from so that you can get a head start on herbs that are ready to be clipped.

During the summer months, fresh herbs can be cut, torn into pieces, and used in your cooking. If over the course of the summer, you find you have more herbs than you can eat, you can preserve extra cuttings by either drying or freezing them. This way, you’ll have plenty of fresh seasoning to add to your winter recipes.

If you have a dehydrator, herbs can be dried very easily and stored in an airtight container. However, of the two, freezing is probably my favorite method for preserving fresh herbs and an even better alternative when it comes to maintaining freshness. Preparing herbs for freezing is also quick and easy. By freezing sprigs or leaves in freezer bags, you can preserve your extra cuttings easily for up to six months. When ready to use for cooking, frozen herbs can be chopped while still frozen and added to cooked dishes

Since I don’t like to have to walk very far to get cuttings of herbs while in the middle of making dinner, I like planting herbs in clay pots right outside my kitchen door.  Not only does this save time when going outside to gather herbs for cooking, pots of herbs that are close by ensure that I’ll take better care of the plants since they are easily seen from my kitchen window and door.

When choosing herbs to plant in pots, I try to plant only those that I cook with the most, one of those being tarragon. For those of you who are fans of the late Julia Child, tarragon is one of those herbs that is inseparable from French cuisine. Of course, for authentic tasting French cuisine, be sure to choose the French variety of tarragon for planting.  And like other fresh herbs, use three times as much of the fresh herb in your recipes as you would the dried variety.

Unlike herbs with very strong flavors, tarragon adds a sweet, delicate taste to food and is perfect for adding subtle flavor to meats and sauces.  Creamy Tarragon Chicken with Vegetables featured below is a delicious entrée that is seasoned with fresh tarragon, baked in a creamy sauce, and topped with fresh vegetables.  For this recipe, I included fresh peppers and onions. However, during the summer months, I like adding slices of zucchini for extra flavor and color.

Although this entrée is perfect for serving alongside fresh asparagus or mashed potatoes covered with extra sauce, this entrée wouldn’t be complete without a salad of fresh greens. And when it comes to a salad accompanying a noble entrée seasoned with tarragon, those fresh greens wouldn’t be properly dressed without a tarragon-flavored vinaigrette.

By mixing up a homemade dressing of Tarragon Vinaigrette like the one featured below, you’ll combine the fresh flavor of tarragon with the creamy texture of sour cream and yogurt. And by adding some apple cider vinegar and mustard, you will a mixture that will compliment whatever French cuisine decide to try. Better yet, you’ll have a delicious meal that hardly took any thyme at all to prepare.

 Creamy Tarragon Chicken with Vegetables

½ cup butter

½ cup flour

3 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 cup organic heavy whipping cream

 ¼ cup fresh tarragon

1 teaspoon pepper

1 ½ lb red, yellow, or orange peppers, chopped

½ cup finely chopped onion

4 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces

1. Place chicken pieces in 9 in. x 13 in. baking pan.
2. In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and stir until smooth and bubbly.
3. Add broth, cream, tarragon, and pepper. Continue to stir and cook until thickened.
4. Pour sauce over chicken pieces. Top with peppers and onion.
5. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through.

Creamy Tarragon Vinaigrette

½ cup plain yogurt

¼ cup sour cream

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon spicy brown mustard

1 Tablespoon minced fresh tarragon leaves

1. Combine all ingredients.
2. Refrigerate until ready to use.