Melanie Johnson's recipe takes the 'subtle yet perceivable' taste of tarragon and uses it to elevate this hearty seafood pasta. Tarragon is one of those spring herbs that impresses with its taste and versatility. For example, in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, it’s used to flavour a popular fizzy drink known as Tarkhun.
I’ve never tried it, but I’m sure it’s wonderful. In Slovenia, it’s used to make a traditional nut roll sweet cake while, closer to home, in France, it is one of the four fines herbes of fine cooking and is one of the main ingredients of Béarnaise sauce. It’s long been known that it makes a roast chicken all the better, and Melanie Johnson suggests tucking tarragon leaves under the skin while cooking, as well as combining the herb with a rice, spring onion, lemon and olive oil for the stuffing.
However, her recipe for creamy prawns with asparagus, tarragon and spinach gnocchi caught our eye. It’s below. For the spinach gnocchi (ignore if using shop-bought) For the rest Preheat your oven to 180 ̊C/350 ̊F/gas mark 4.
Rub oil over the potatoes and bake for an hour or until cooked through. Scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Mix in the egg yolks and then sprinkle over the flour—you may find you need slightly more or less—add the chopped spinach and mix to form a dough.
Roll it out into long sausages and cut into bite-size pieces. You can use them immediately or chill, covered, until you need them. When ready to cook, bring a large pan of salte.
