Versatility is a Key Ingredient: Tarragon Sauce

The infinite variety of Italian sauces possess just as much versatility.  Many of them, especially from the Tuscan region, have white bread as an ingredient, which has been soaked, squeezed, then mashed in (another creative way to use up that day old bread!) and makes a wonderful, non-fat thickener for sauces and soups alike.  One of my favorite sauces has tarragon as the key ingredient.  Tarragon’s unique licorice-fennel sweet taste adds a new dimension to many dishes, from fish to meat and everything in between.  In Italian, tarragon is known as estragone and dragoncello.  The latter means “little dragon” which is supposedly derived from the Far East, where it was named after tarragon’s complex and serpentine-like root system.  Well, we used our “little dragon” sauce over pasta last night (one of my favorite Setaro pasta brands, “Nodi Marini” or Nautical Knots); we spread it on our lunch of melted cheese and turkey panini with baby greens salad today; and we will use it as a rub for our grilled artichokes tonight.  It is truly quite …  versatile!

Tarragon Sauce

3-4 slices white bread, no crust
2 cups cold water
12 tablespoons coarsely chopped tarragon leaves
25 sprigs of parsley
6 large garlic cloves, pealed
Salt & fresh ground pepper
1 large or 2 small hard boiled egg yolks, crumbled
1 cup olive oil
3 teaspoons red wine vinegar
A sprinkling of fresh lemon juice
Red pepper flakes to taste

Place 3-4 slices of white bread (no crust) in a bowl with water and let soak for at least 5 minutes, until soft and crumbling to the touch.  Chop the the garlic, then add the tarragon and parsley together and finely chop together, or or use a small food processor.  Squeeze the water out of the bread and place in a bowl.  Add the chopped ingredients, the egg yolk(s), salt and pepper, vinegar, red pepper flakes, olive oil (add it in slowly) and mix everything well.  Refrigerate before serving if using as dressing or spread, or warm up to serve as a sauce.

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