Use That Herb! Lemon Tarragon Chicken

Young sprigs of Tarragon from my garden in August. They are being used in everything exceopt Vanilla Ice Cream

Lemon Tarragon ChickenIngredients
2 skinned,boneless chicken breasts, halved (vertically)
Flour to coat chicken breast pieces
2 tbsns butter.
1 cup chicken broth
1 lemon (juice and one tspn. lemon zest)
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of tarragon (fresh) or
1 1/2 teaspoons dried tarragon (the recipe is best with fresh tarragon)
Preparation
---Rinse chicken breasts--pat dry with paper towels.
---Halve chicken breasts vertically (meat is thicker when cut vertically)

Using a paper bag, place about 1/3 cup of flour in the bag.
Place one chicken breast at a time in the bag, shake bag
to coat breast with flour.

--Saute’ the breasts in 2 tbspns butter.
--Remove chicken breasts to plate.
--Saute minced shallot in remaining butter, to golden color.
--Return chicken to pan with the shallots.
Add lemon juice and zest..
Gather up shallots, pan juices with the lemon added.
---Add chicken broth, a bit at a time, scraping and stirring to mix lemon juice
This addition is to make a good sauce, and the flour coating is to enhance the thickness of the sauce.
--Cook at least ten minutes so the chicken is tender, not dry.
--Finishing touch is to add the tarragon reserving about 1/2 teaspoon. Stir into sauce, cook at least one minute.
Serving--Add the reserved tarragon as garnish. You could always add about one half lemon, cut into slices as garnish, also.

This recipe multiplies well, up to 6 chicken breasts. Simply make sure you have a large enough pan.
DISCLAIMER:

The statements made here have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These statements are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure or prevent any disease. This notice is required by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Books, Links and Videos:Herb and Jam Preservation

Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs (any edition). Check each herb you want to harvest and preserve---methods for each one are in the entries.

Tucker and DeBaggio’s Encyclopedia of Herbs: A Comprehensive Reference to Herbs of Flavor and Scent. This book has the chemistry of herbs, as well as the rate flavor would be lost in preserved herbs, articles and charts on kinds of herbs and drying methods

Homegrown Herbs, Tammi Hartung. Charts and information on harvesting and preserving for most culinary herbs as well as conditions for herb propagation and use.

Herb Companion. Recipes : herb jellies.
http://www.herbcompanion.com, search

Rodale’s WikiHow.com, LeGourmetTV.com.

---The Harvest Workshop: Gardens, Jams and Herbs Teaneck, NJ: Garden Club of Teaneck, Greenhouse. .(August 31, 2011)

Herb Harvesting Notes

Herbs are best when fresh---or so it is said. But given today’s budget crunch (winter time fresh herbs cost about $3.00 for a small amount), putting aside some for yourself is wise.

When to harvest? Generally, that is “ in the morning, before the flower emerges, and prior to the loss of flavor oils.” A number of herbs differ---check a harvesting chart (see Homegrown Herbs.)

What do you do with the herbs? Decide how much space you can allocate to storage and what method you will use per herb.

-Drying can involve drying racks (a laundry rack will serve), paper bags (to catch seeds) Use rubber bands for contraction of the herb to tie and hang h he herbs. Use screens (to ensure all sections of small herb are dry so mold does not set in. Crumbling the herbs is the next step. Then, store them in amber bottles and place in a dark, dry place.

Freezing herbs can involve freezing the whole herb in plastic bags, in ice cube trays with oil or water. How much can your fridge---or freezer-hold?

Shiso and Salad Burnet cannot be preserved---use while in your garden!

More Information:

Five Culinary Herbs to Preserve

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Bolivian Coriander next to my plea for justice from the skies.


1. Basil: Freeze it in water-basil cubes, use it in vinegar or oils, or dry it .All methods have one danger: the possible darkening of the basil.. Do not put into plastic. This herb loses its volatile oils very rapidly.

2. Rosemary: Dry it, freeze it (in whole branches—pick the needles you need).

3. Tarragon: Dry it, keep in vinegar or oil.

4. Oregano. Dry it ---freeze minced oregano with basil , the better to put in tomato sauce.


5. Thyme: Dry it. Use paper bags or drying racks.

Preserving Seeds
You can also preserve seeds for use in next spring’s planting: be sure that the seeds you are saving are not hybrids. Ones that work well include parsley and fennel. Use rubber bands to wrap the branches together, hang them upside down in a dry, dark place and place a paper bag over the plant head to collect the seeds. Make sure the specimens you collect are not weather beaten.
(Check Seed Savers Exchange: Susanne Ashworth's book Seed to Seed for ideas. www.seedsaversexchange.org)

---The Harvest Workshop: Gardens, Jams and Herbs Teaneck, NJ: Garden Club of Teaneck, Greenhouse. .(August 31, 2011)

Using Mint:Persian Salad with Cucumbers and Mint

There isn't any fresh mint in my Sunny Garden, in which I have been spending time photographing the herbs. Mint is in my Shady garden, and I'll put a photo here.. But don't wait for that to try the salad. 'Tis the second day of August and it promises to be sufficiently hot to qualify as an August day. Cucumbers, hitting the market, can be paired with yoghurt and mint for a refreshing salad. Grill salmon to pair with this salad, add a baguette, and slice saa fresh tomato for color balance.

Ingredients: Three medium sized cucumbers, peeled, split lengthwise, seeded and cubed.(You can use a spoon to scrape the "bowl" of the cucumber to remove the seeds.)

Six scallions, white areas, minced.

Mint (peppermint preferred, although any variety will do, even horsemint. Spearmintgives a sweet flavor,

One cup of yoghurt

This salad is a simple assemblage of ingredients. Add mint, scallions to diced cucumber and then stir in the yoghurt, Refrigerate, part of the strength of the salad is its "coolth."It is best served after combining ingredients and refrigerating for about an hour.

It keeps for two days ---stir the entire salad to redistribute the yoghurt. The salad works well with chicken glazed with honey and mustard.

Thanks to Dayush M., who, many years ago, while a graduate student at U.of Penn, gave me this recipe. He and another student, Vijay, had cooking competitions in which I got involved by peeling onions and learning their recipes.
DISCLAIMER:

The statements made here have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These statements are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure or prevent any disease. This notice is required by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Recipe: Lemon-Basil Drink

This recipe from Marty Steeil, and was used at the Herbal Iced Tea Workshop. This is perfect for today, which is blistering hot, up to 100 degrees and more.
Perhaps a section on Herbed Iced Beverages will show up here in August.This is the first, albeat it in July:

Marty's words: "I made the lemonade with a very simple recipe:

a. Buy a 2 liter bottle of lemonade
b. Put a half ounce of basil into a blender and half the lemonade
c. Blend on high for 1 minute and pour into a container
d. Repeat with the rest of the lemonade and another half ounce of basil. Pour the rest into the container.
e. Put the container into the frig and everytime you open the frig for the next 24 hours shake the container
f. After 24 hours strain the mixture through cheese cloth or a very small holed strainer (get out all the green).

It is best served ice cold. It tastes great alone. It also makes a great base for adult drinks.

Enjoy!"
________________________________________________
The next Herb Workshop will be in late August or early September, stay tuned for the exact date. It will be on on Harvesting and Preserving Herbs. The time is 9:30 to 11:30 AM on the Greenhouse Lawn, at the end of Lindbergh Blvd. We are going to feature a tour of Greenhouse Gardens, with gardners there to discuss their practice. The demonstrations of herb preserving methods will be centered on herbs for That Summer Taste All Year Long.
DISCLAIMER:

The statements made here have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These statements are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure or prevent any disease. This notice is required by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

A Five-Herb Pocket Garden

--- Find a spot that gets sun at least six hours a day.

--- Make your plot fit the area----about a 4 feet square area is enough for a pocket herb garden.

---Sow parsley in late March. Add dill, cilantro, oregano. Sow basil last (mid-June).

---Allow for growth --find out the size of the mature plant.

---- Water regularly and make sure the plot stays weeded.

---Harvest when there is enough of the herb that some will still grow, Snip the tips of large leaves for the flavor. Remove stems (they are usually bitter) from oregano and use the leaves from cilantro and dill.
---Rinse and pat dry; use in recipes for that fresh herb taste.

---Basil will grow large over the summer; pinch off the flowers to keep the plant growing;cilantro and dill should be sown again as cool weather approaches.

--Parsley will return for another year; oregano is a perennial, and as the season ends, so does the basil.


Have a partially shady area? Try Parsley, Chives, Lemon Verbena, Mint, and Sage.
A surprise addition is Breton Shiso. I grew seven Shiso plants this summer in my pocket garden under the trees. They had coloring of purples underleaf, dark chartreause on the upper leaf. I transplanted two of them to full sun, and each grew vigorously. I compared them to the five in the pocket garden, and the height is not appreciably different.