It’s a funny thing; I loathe licorice.  Just cannot abide the stuff. But I quite like similar flavours, as long as they’re herbal in origin. Perhaps it’s just down to my tastes maturing as I, well, mature, but I’ve become a huge fan of fennel as a seed, a herb, and the bulb itself.  And tarragon is a favourite herb of mine. Its anise flavour goes famously well with chicken and fish, but tarragon is also the herbal core of bernaise sauce, that most delicious of accompaniments to a good steak. It partners beautifully, as I hope to demonstrate, with the tangy zing of citrus flavours.

One would think that tarragon – being a tender leaf – would be amongst the herbs that do not work well when dried.  But really a great deal of rubbish is talked about herbs that apparently don’t work well when dried, and it’s now very easy to get hold of freeze-dried tarragon, which is inexpensive and has of course a much longer shelf life than when fresh. So I offer here three recipes for this delicately delicious herb, only one of which requires that the herb be used when fresh. This one (a sorbet) came about simply because I’d bought a packet of fresh tarragon for a soup (see below) and had loads left over that I simply did not want to waste.

Zuchinni Soup With Lemon And Tarragon

This makes a very light and fresh soup. Zuchinni loves almost any herbal influence, but the slight sharpness of the lemon against the sweetly anise flavour of the tarragon is just divine.

You will need:

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 4 medium-sized zuchinni, cut into large dice (about 1 inch)
• A small bunch of fresh tarragon, or 2 teaspoons dried
• 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock (depends on whether you want to go totally veggie)
• the juice of 1/2 lemon (or a whole lemon, if small or unyielding, juice-wise)

In a large saucepan, sweat the onion in a glug of olive oil until softened. Throw in the zucchini and sweat that as well, stirring frequently to cook the veg evenly.  When the zucchini looks tender (the flesh will have gone from white to yellow) add the tarragon and stir well. Then add 3 cups of the stock, bring to the boil, then simmer with the lid half-off the pan for about 30 minutes.  At this point, take out a piece of zucchini and taste. Zucchini can be quite bitter until well cooked, so if it tastes at all bitter (and you may want to wait a moment or two after tasting to decide) then let the soup keep cooking for another 15 minutes before tasting again.  When you’re satisfied the zucchini is no longer bitter, take the saucepan off the heat and leave to cool a bit.  Then either blitz it with a hand-blender, or put it through a proper blender if you have one.  At any rate, process it until it is entirely smooth.

This is not a chunky soup.  This is also a lighter soup, so if the consistency seems on the sludgy end of things, slacken it with as much of the reserved cup of stock to get it to a more glamorous consistency. You can serve this soup hot, but it really comes into its own if you chill it in the fridge and serve it cold, perhaps with a little swirl of cream or yogurt. Then it’s a perfect starter or light summer lunch. (Serves 4)

Orange and Tarragon Rub For Roast Lamb.

Lamb is a richer meat, and can take the acid tang and stronger herbal tastes of this rub. While orange is mostly considered to be sweeter than lemon, its rind is actually a bit more bitter. The garlic gives a warm balance, and is always lovely with lamb.

You will need:

• 3 garlic cloves
• Salt
• The grated rind of an orange
• 2 teaspoons dried tarragon
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• Olive oil

In either a food processor or with a mortar and pestle, grind the garlic cloves with a bit of salt until they form a paste. Then add the orange rind and the herbs and keep on grinding or processing.  Loosen the paste with a glug or two of olive oil- but not too much.  This should be a loose paste, not a flavoured oil. Season with a touch of pepper, then rub all over your lamb joint- as the great Fanny Craddock once said of salt for crackling- as if into the face of your worst enemy.

Let the lamb joint sit for a half hour in the rub before roasting as usual. This would also be lovely on a roast chicken.

Tangerine And Tarragon Sorbet

This was the sorbet I made with the leftover tarragon.  I was genuinely thrilled with the result. Even surprised, because I usually like anise (or licorice) flavours least in a sweet context.

You will need:

• 8 tangerines, peeled, reserving a piece of the rind
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 small bunch fresh tarragon (must be fresh, I’m afraid)
• the juice of 1 lemon
• 1 large egg white, whisked into soft peaks.

Blitz the tangerines in a blender until they become a fairly smooth pulp. In a small saucepan, heat the water, sugar, tarragon leaves and reserved piece of tangerine rind over the lowest flame possible, until the sugar has dissolved and it just starts to bubble. You want to do this slowly to give the tarragon and tangerine rind time to properly infuse the syrup. Once the syrup has started to bubble, turn off the heat and allow to cool until just warm.  While he syrup is heating then cooling, push the tangerine pulp through a sieve into a plastic or ceramic bowl. Keep pushing the pulp firmly but gently until the pulp in the sieve is quite dry.  Discard.  Then remove the tarragon and tangerine rind from the syrup and stir the syrup into the tangerine juice.  Taste, and if it seems a bit too sweet to you (tangerines can very greatly in sweetness), add juice from the lemon until you get that desired hint of tartness.  Then pour the mixture into a freezeable container and freeze for about 3 hours, or until the center is thickly slushy.  It’s now that you whisk the egg white, and fold it gently but thoroughly into the semi-frozen slush, and freeze for another couple of hours.  Remove it from the freezer a good ten minutes before you want to serve it, depending on the heat of your kitchen. (Makes 8-10 servings).