SOCAL STYLE / Entertaining : The Secret Life of Herbs : Summer May Seem to Be Their Time, but Fall Is When Tarragon, Lavender and Other Seasonings Can Really Shine

Summer may end with Labor Day elsewhere in the country, but in Southern California, September’s lingering warmth can continue to render us as loose and languorous as a rubber hose. Even in my air-conditioned home office I find I can’t get as much work done in this sultry month, when everything is happening outdoors. Plants appear animated by the sun’s scrutiny, their essential oils infusing the air. It’s as if I can see them grow and ripen while my projects lie idle. The herbs, above all, make their presence known when I brush by a fragrant hedge of rosemary or step on a ground cover of thyme. The twilight-blue flowers of lavender are an antidote to the day’s heat. At the top of my terraced garden, the upward sweep of their perfume is especially heady, something I first experienced in a garden in Italy, where the sensual is integral to daily life.

Lured outdoors when the sun hangs high, I have a tendency to seek a nap in the shade, as if giving up my energy to the greater needs of the garden. Fervent days linger here for a delectable blue dusk filled with softening edges and fading scents. This is when I like to pinch a few leaves of lemon verbena, press them in cupped hand to nose, breath deep for a flash of the day’s solar effort, a rush to energize the evening.

Herbs are this lazy summer cook’s secret to enlivening a meal, as well. I listen to the herbs, letting them dictate the dish. I once spent a week in a cabin in the Sierra with family and friends and a generous bunch of tarragon that spoke to me of chicken, baked, broiled and grilled, potato salad and stuffed eggs. I never tired of its green licorice evanescence and it never let me down. At the end of the week, like all good vacations, I was left wanting more.

Herbs can surprise the senses when used in novel ways. I had always enjoyed the scent of lavender in soaps and lotions, but never considered its culinary potential until I tasted roasted pumpkin soup scented with it. The earthy, mellow pumpkin was lifted and lightened by the perfect touch of a floral note. Chef Tom Byrne created the dish for Cafe Mirabeau in Beverly Hills, a community well acquainted with the head-turning powers of perfume. But the inspiration here was from the restaurant’s Provencal theme, Provence being the heart of France’s lavender industry.

I had heard of lemon verbena but dismissed it as a flower that probably smelled or tasted only vaguely of lemon. When I first encountered the parrot-green, sword-shaped leaves at a farmer’s market I couldn’t believe its lemon punch. Only it was a softened, sweetened citrus concoction, what lemon aspired to be. I dug up the one recipe I had seen for it, a lemon verbena syrup for fruit salad. The results were so simple and perfect that I considered walking the streets with a jar of it to spread the word.

Saffron, the dried stigmas of the flower Crocus sativus, with its intense yellow color and outsized flavor, is the herbal embodiment of solar heat. It’s common in Indian curries and rice ishes but chefs are beginning to experiment with it in desserts. I first tasted an ice cream infused with saffron, fennel and orange while reporting on a master class for professional chefs conducted by Madeleine Kamman in Napa. This recipe below for saffron- and cardamom-flavored ice cream is, I believe, the taste equivalent of an afternoon nap in a late summer garden, the perfect end to the most sensuous season.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Scented with Lavender

Adapted from Cafe Mirabeau

Serves 6-8

*

Soup Ingredients

2 cups of coarsely chopped onions

4 tablespoons oil

4 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves (or 1 tablespoon dry thyme)

1 quart of chicken stock (4 cups)

3 cups pumpkin puree (recipe to follow)

Salt and pepper to taste

3 tablespoons dried lavender

*

Saute onions and fresh thyme in oil and butter on medium heat until onions are translucent. Do not brown. Add pumpkin puree and chicken stock to sauteed onions. Increase heat to medium and simmer until reduced by one quarter. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Puree soup in batches in blender or Cuisinart. In small saucepan, heat one cup of pureed soup with three tablespoons of lavender and boil. Remove from heat and allow to steep for 5 to 10 minutes. Strain lavender solids from soup. Add small amounts of lavender-scented soup to master batch. Note: Lavender scent should not overpower natural pumpkin flavor. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pumpkin Puree

Quarter and seed one medium pumpkin. Rub lightly with olive oil and place on baking sheet. Roast in oven at 325 until soft (about 11/2 to 2 hours). Scrape out pulp and puree in food processor or push through potato ricer. Allow to drain in fine strainer or cheese cloth for 3 hours or overnight to remove excess liquid. Note: Fresh banana squash may be substituted for pumpkin.

Summer Fruit Compote With Lemon Verbena

Adapted from “Fresh From the Farmer’s Market” by Janet Fletcher (Chronicle Books, 1997)

Serves 4

*

1 cup dry white wine (Chenin Blanc, Riesling or Gewurztraminer)

1/3 cup sugar

12 to 16 fresh leaves of lemon verbena

1 large nectarine, pitted and sliced

4 large fresh green figs, quartered

1/2 cup raspberries

1/2 cup blackberries

*

Combine wine, sugar and 1 cup water in small saucepan. Bring to simmer over moderately high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Simmer until reduced to 1 cup. Put 12 verbena leaves in bowl and pour syrup over them. Stir, let steep 5 minutes, then taste. Add few more lemon verbena leaves if syrup doesn’t seem flavorful enough. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until old. Divide fruit evenly among 4 balloon wineglasses. Just before serving, strain wine syrup to remove lemon verbena leaves, then pour 1/4 cup syrup over each portion of fruit. Alternatively, put all the fruit in glass compote and pour syrup over it. Serve immediately.

Saffron Cardamom Ice Cream Ciao Bella

Ciao Bella Gelato Co., New York

Adapted from Gourmet magazine, August 1993

Makes 1 1/2 quarts

2 cups milk

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon saffron threads

8 large egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 cup shelled natural pistachio nuts

*

In heavy saucepan combine milk, cream, saffron and bring just to boil. Remove from heat, let stand, covered, one hour. Return to heat and again bring to just a boil. In bowl whisk together gg yolks, sugar, pinch of salt. Add cream mixture to this in a stream, whisking, and then pour back into the pan. Cook custard over moderate low heat, stirring, until it registers 170 degrees on candy thermometer, strain through a fine sieve set over another bowl, stir in cardamom. Cool completely and freeze in ice cream freezer according to manufacturer’s instructions, adding pistachios during last few minutes of freezing time.

Beef With Tarragon

Adapted from “Cooking With Herbs” by Emelie Tolley and Chris Mead (Clarkson N. Potter Inc., 1989)

Serves 4

2 cups beef stock

1 3/4 pounds beef tenderloin, cut in 4 equal slices

Salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup cognac

2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon, or 1 tablespoon dried

1 cup heavy cream

4 slices country white bread

Fresh tarragon for garnish

*

Place stock in small saucepan and reduce by half over high heat. Meanwhile, season beef with salt. Place 2 tablespoons of oil in skillet over high heat. When oil is hot, add steaks and quickly brown on both sides, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. As soon as browned, add cognac to pan and ignite (taking great care that all flammable or other objects are clear of the immediate cooking area as the oil and cognac will cause flames to billow out and upward.) After flame dies, reduce heat to medium and add tarragon, stock and cream. Cook until steaks reach desired doneness, about 5 minutes for rare, 8 minutes for medium rare. Set steaks aside and keep warm in oven. Continue cooking sauce until slightly thickened, 5 to 7 minutes longer. Toast bread slices. When sauce is ready, place one steak on each plate, top with slice of bread and sprig of fresh tarragon. Pour some of the hot sauce over the bread.

*

Food stylist: Christine Anthony-Masterson

*