Flaherty Wines

There are two types of tarragon: Russian and French. Russian tarragon is grown from seed, and the resulting herb is bitter, bland, and generally not useful for cooking. French tarragon is the one with that wonderful creamy anise flavor; it does not set viable seed, however, so it must be grown from cuttings. Sadly, there is no French tarragon in Chile. There is plenty of tarragon sold both as plants and even as a culinary herb in the markets, but alas, it is all Russian. A few years ago, I found some French at a grocery store in Santiago, but it was inconsistently available and then disappeared altogether. I desperately tried to get the cuttings to grow, but had no luck. And since it is grown from cuttings, I can’t import any for my garden. This is a sad state of affairs, as tarragon is so great for whipping up an elegant meal with minimal effort.

Since I can’t cook with tarragon at home, it has become a favorite of mine to use when we are traveling. On our recent trip to California, we had a great time cooking with my cousin and her family in Corona del Mar. I threw together this simple sauce to serve over grilled chicken. No photos, I’m afraid, as we lost our USB cable somewhere along the way, and I haven’t been able to replace it yet.

Tarragon sauce for chicken

3 tablespoons unsalted butter (divided)
1 large shallot, minced
2/3 cup white wine
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cups light chicken stock
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup chopped French tarragon (I used an entire supermarket package, which gave about a cup of leaves and a half cup chopped)
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper

Melt one tablespoon of butter in a saucepan and sauté the shallot until translucent. Add the white wine and reduce by half. Whisk in the mustard, then add the stock. Bring to a simmer and reduce slightly. While the sauce simmers, make a roux: melt the remaining two tablespoons of butter, whisk in the flour, then continue whisking for one to two minutes to cook the roux. Remove the roux from the heat until ready to use.

To finish the sauce, add half the roux to the simmering sauce and immediately whisk to incorporate. Add the remaining roux as needed to reach the desired consistency (you may not need all the roux). Stir in the tarragon and cream, then season to taste with salt and pepper.