Tarragon ("Dragoncello") Crostini
Ingredients
1 sprig of tarragon ("dragoncello"), 1 pressed garlic clove, a few basil leaves, a pinch of salt,
a pinch of pepper, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar (to your liking), thin slices of toasted bread ("Crostini")
Preparation
After having finely chopped the spices on a cutting board, mix it with the oil and a little vinegar, adding salt and pepper. Spread the cream obtains onto some the "crostini".
Tarragon (dragoncello) is a very strong herb, used often in France where it is called "estragon".
There is a delicate legend about this herb: It is said that during the Napoleon occupation in Siena, a young and handsome "dragone" (dragoon/soldier) took a room in a building in which a young girl was living on the floor below. The Senese girl fell in love with the soldier who, one day, by shaking his boots outside his window dropped some seeds into a flower pot on the girls windowsill. The seeds grew into a very fragrant plant. The dragoon went back to his homeland, and the girl called that herb "dragoncello" in remembrance of that tender love story.
1 sprig of tarragon ("dragoncello"), 1 pressed garlic clove, a few basil leaves, a pinch of salt,
a pinch of pepper, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar (to your liking), thin slices of toasted bread ("Crostini")
Preparation
After having finely chopped the spices on a cutting board, mix it with the oil and a little vinegar, adding salt and pepper. Spread the cream obtains onto some the "crostini".
Tarragon (dragoncello) is a very strong herb, used often in France where it is called "estragon".
There is a delicate legend about this herb: It is said that during the Napoleon occupation in Siena, a young and handsome "dragone" (dragoon/soldier) took a room in a building in which a young girl was living on the floor below. The Senese girl fell in love with the soldier who, one day, by shaking his boots outside his window dropped some seeds into a flower pot on the girls windowsill. The seeds grew into a very fragrant plant. The dragoon went back to his homeland, and the girl called that herb "dragoncello" in remembrance of that tender love story.
