Showing posts with label Les Herbs de Provence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Les Herbs de Provence. Show all posts

Cerfeuil – Chervil, the Herb, in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


Chervil
 
Chervil, also called Garden Chervil and French Parsley has a taste that makes you think of very mild parsley and aniseed at the same time; consequently it is very popular in French cuisine. The French love aniseed, but they do not want that taste to be too strong. Chervil’s importance is seen as it is one of the herbs that make up both of France’s favorite herb groups Les Fine Herbes, and Les Herbes de Provence.  None of the herbs in the Les Fine Herbes benefit from long cooking; they will be added to a dish just before serving, and that is true for chervil on its own.
   

Velouté de Chou-Fleur
A velvety cauliflower soup flavored with chervil
Photograph courtesy of Mon Œil
  
In Les Fine Herbes there are four other herbs: Ciboulette, Chives; Estragon, Tarragon; Persil, Parsley, and Thym, Thyme. In the Herbes de Provence the other herbs besides chervil are Basilic, Basil; Fenouil, Fennel; Estragon, Tarragon; Feuilles de Laurier, Bay Leaves; Marjoram, Oregano; Serpolet or Farigoule, Wild Thyme, and sometimes Sauge, Sage; Sarriette, Summer Savory, and Lavande, Lavender. Chervil apart from special recipes, in a French home, will be simply added to fresh salads where they contrast with stronger salad greens and spicy salad leaves such as rocket. Chervil also adds its flavor to many vinaigrettes.

Fresh or dried chervil?

 For French chefs the dried herb is considered practically useless; in fact, I was told more than once when fresh chervil is not available, using parsley and tarragon lightly and in combination is far better than dry and tasteless chervil.  N.B. Many packages of the Herbes de Provence sold to tourists contain dried chervil, it will not taste bad, but add fresh chervil when using those herbs if you can. The fresh leaves and stems of chervil are used to flavor soups, casseroles, salads, sauces, eggs and particularly omelets, and chervil is often part of herbal butters.
    

Chervil
Grow your own
    
Chervil on French Menus:
       
Dos de Saint Pierre Grillé Beurre et Cerfeuil – A thick cut from John Dory, the fish, grilled with butter and flavored with chervil.  Despite John Dory being a saltwater fish it is traditionally called St Peter’s Fish in many European countries.
 
Entrecôte Grillée Sauce Béarnaise – A grilled entrecote steak served with a sauce Béarnaise.  Sauce Béarnaise is a “child” of Sauce Hollandaise. The chef and restaurateur Jean-Louis Françoise-Collinet, in the 1830’s, made a few changes in Sauce Hollandaise and added Tarragon and Chervil, wine vinegar and shallots. Voila, we have that fantastic sauce, Sauce Béarnaise,  While I have seen some modern cookbook recipes for Sauce Béarnaise that omit the chervil when you are in France no self-respecting chef would do that.
      

with Sauce Béarnaise
     
Filet de Bar Cuit Sur Peau, Risotto au Chorizo, Crème de Cerfeuil – Filet of European Sea Bass cooked in its skin, accompanied by a risotto flavored with chorizo sausages and served with a cream of chervil sauce.  Chorizo sausages have many tastes, but the most popular will be spicy, that cooled with a cream of chervil sauce will balance very well when served with the Sea Bass.
  
Gazpacho de Tomates Jaunes, Huile d'Olive Extra Vierge et Cerfeuil – Gazpacho made with yellow tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, and chervil. When I saw this on a menu, my mouth was watering, I wish that I had been there to taste it.  Gazpacho is served chilled, and while tomatoes are the centerpiece of the original recipe, there are many herbs and other vegetables flavoring the dish. Here the soup is served with extra virgin olive oil and chervil; both have characteristics that are destroyed by cooking and so served cold they may make a good cold Gazpacho great. The yellow tomatoes will have only a slight effect on the taste, but they will affect the texture.
   
 

Filet De Daurade  - Filet of Gilthead Sea Bream
Mousse of Swedes and chervil butter.
   
Suprême de Poulet Croustillant, Sauce au Cerfeuil  – Breast of chicken with a crispy skin served with a chervil flavored sauce.
  
Sauté de Homard Breton au Cerfeuil –  The European two-clawed lobster from Brittany.  Here it is lightly fried with the chervil added just before serving.  Caveat emptor: France’s considers the lobsters caught off the coast of Brittany to be the very best, and you will pay a great deal more for a European two-clawed lobster than you will for its American cousin caught in Canada or Maine. Check the price carefully.
 
Tarte Fine d'Asperges Vertes et Blanches, Emulsion de Cerfeuil et Morilles – A delicate tart made with white and green asparagus served with a thick wild morel mushroom sauce flavored with chervil.
    
When did chervil arrive in France
 
Gernot Katzer (http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl/index.html) attributes chervils arrival in France to Emperor Charlemagne’s edict “Capitulare de Villis”  from the 8th-century c.e.  That edict included foods and spices to be grown by monasteries and estates owned by the emperor.  That edict assuredly aided the herb’s popularity, nevertheless the Romans had been using chervil long before the 8th century c.e. Chervil had originated in the Caucasus and the Romans had no doubt received chervil in trade long before they went and occupied the Caucasus. The Romans occupied France in 121 B.C.E. and then apart from fruits and vegetables and trees like apricots, plums, peaches and cherries they assuredly brought chervil. The Romans also taught the French how to build snail farms and fatten geese for foie gras, their fattened liversAt the same time, they built roads, aqueducts, stadiums, temples, and amphitheaters. You may well ask: What did the Romans ever do for France?
       
Chervil in the languages of France’s neighbors:
      
 (Catalan – cerfull), (Dutch – kervel),  ( German – kerbel.  Kerbel, Gartenkerbel, Französische Petersilie ), (Italian – cerfoglio), (Spanish – perifollo).
     
Connected Posts:
   
 
  
 
 
 
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 


 
 
 
 
 
   

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2016.

Romarin – Rosemary. Rosemary the Herb in French cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

 
Rosemary
Photograph courtesy of Andy / Andrew Fogg
www.flickr.com/photos/ndrwfgg/101554662/
 
Rosemary

Unlike diners in many other countries, most French diners want to know which herbs and spices are used in menu listings. As a result, few French chefs omit from the menu listing details of how a dish was flavored. Seeing the herbs and spices used on the menu tells the diner how the dish will taste.

The wide variety of herbs and spices in French cuisine.

French cuisine uses a wider variety of herbs and spices than any other European country. Many of these herbs came to France with Catherine de Medici. Then in 1553, at age 15, Lorenzo de Medici, the absolute ruler of Florence, sent his daughter Catherine to marry Prince Henry of France (later King Henry II). At that time, Florence was considered the leader and creator of the best European cuisine. Catherine came with a unique wedding retinue that included chefs, cooks, vintners, along with market gardeners. The chefs brought both new recipes and new ways to use the herbs that France already had, including Rosemary.  Rosemary is not a French import; it is native to the Mediterranean. Apart from Rosemary’s use as a herb on its own, it is part of France’s two most important herb groups Les Fine Herbes and the Herbes de Provence.

Flowering Rosemary
www.flickr.com/photos/dionysia/109623018/

Later, France would add new herbs, fruits, and vegetables from the New World, India, and Africa. France’s wars and colonies would bring even more. When wealthy French colonists came back to visit France, they often brought their colonial cooks with them. To those cooks, France added the French chefs who had gone to serve the French overseas administration and returned to France with new ideas. They brought into French cuisine the flavors and aromas of new herbs and spices and how they are prepared.


Cultivating Rosemary.
Photograph courtesy of rmburnes
www.flickr.com/photos/93363727@N00/5126582865/
        
Rosemary in French cuisine.

French chefs usually prefer fresh herbs because many dried herbs lose much of their flavor and aroma when dried. However, fresh rosemary is always used as a fresh herb because its fresh leaves provide a gentler flavor than the dried variety. In France, obtaining fresh rosemary is never a problem as it is an evergreen plant. Wild Rosemary and that grown by market gardeners assure French consumers of a plentiful supply all year round. Mediterranean wild rosemary is naturally abundant as it can withstand heat and requires little water. In France and many Mediterranean countries, rosemary is also cultivated as an ornamental shrub that may be seen in hedges alongside roads.

Natural rosemary hedges along a path 
www.flickr.com/photos/derek_b/8801551042/
  
Rosemary on French menus:

Calamars Grillés au Romarin, Salade de Roquettes et Copeaux de Parmesan Calamari, squid, grilled with rosemary and served with a rocket salad flavored with shavings of parmesan cheese.

Carré d'Agneau Rôti au Thym et au Romarin – A rack of lamb roasted with thyme and rosemary.


Orange, Lemon, and Rosemary Roast Chicken
Photograph courtesy of the GbergT
www.flickr.com/photos/habesha/411908215/

Filet d'Agneau du Charolais aux Senteurs d’Ail et Romarin, Écrasé de Patates Douces - A Charolais lamb fillet, the tenderloin, scented with garlic and tosemary and served with crushed sweet potatoes. Écrasé or écrasées in French may be translated on your menu as mashed; however, the word for mashed in French is purée. Écrasé indicates a rougher texture.

Fraîcheur de Melon et Mousse de Chèvre au Romarin – Chilled melon served with a goat’s cheese mousse, flavored with rosemary.

Mignon de Veau à la Fondue d'Oignon, Jus de Viande au Romarin - A cut from a veal fillet, the veal tenderloin, served on a bed of very well cooked onions, practically an onion jam. The veal is served with the cooking juices from the meat that is flavored with rosemary.

Pêche Rôtie au Miel et Romarin – Peach roasted in honey and rosemary.


Racks of lamb with rosemary
Photograph  courtesy of Adrian Gonzales
www.flickr.com/photos/virexmachina/3511435165/

Filet de Dorade Royale Rôti aux Herbes de Provence et Son Beurre Blanc - A filet of gilthead, the fish, roasted with the herbs of Provence and served with a white butter sauce.


A whole roasted gilthead with rosemary butter.
Photograph courtesy of Peter Smith
www.flickr.com/photos/purpaboo/4499071875/
 
Rosemary as a homeopathic medicine.

Rosemary, in French homeopathic medicine, is used for many aches and pains. All French homeopathic pharmacies and there are nearly as many as regular pharmacies, will offer rosemary in many forms and explain their uses. There are rosemary herbal teas, (tisanes in French), rosemary creams, and more.

If you travel a great deal, you will find rosemary all over the world, especially in Asia, where it is just as much at home as it is in the Mediterranean. 

Rosemary in the languages of France's neighbors:                  

(Catalan -  romaní ), (Dutch -  rozemarijn), (German – rosmarin), (Italian – rosmarino), (Spanish – romero), (Latin – salvia rosmarinus).

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2015, 2021
 
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