Tomato-Tarragon

Cream Sauce

This was created for the birthday of Harriet Trussell. She is the mother of Tom Knoll (the creator of the great "recipe-site", and Janine’s bro-in-law). Her idea of fun is to host a birthday party for herself (sounds just like me...). Unfortunately, a couple of years back the caterer utterly failed, and she and her guests were left with cold and disappointing food. Upon Tom’s suggestion she hired me to cook for the affair and this is one of the dishes that I made. The sauce was forgotten until Katherine (Tom’s wife; Janine’s sister) asked me for the recipe. After much procrastination I finally completed the task; Here’s to Harriet, Happy Birthday!

      1 T  butter
      1 T  olive oil
      1    lg. onion, thinly sliced (approx. 2c)
    4-5    garlic cloves, thinly sliced or crushed 
    1/2 t  dried tarragon
           salt and pepper


    1/2 c  white wine
      1    28 oz. can chopped tomatoes (low-sodium)

    1/2 c  cream (or 1/2 and 1/2 if you want a lighter variety)
    1/2 t  dried tarragon (yes, more tarragon) 
      2 T  Pernod (optional)

    1/2 c  Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely grated

Heat the butter and olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan on med-high and heat until the butter sizzles; add the onions with a few sprinkles of salt and pepper. Reduce heat and sauté slowly, stirring often until golden brown, about 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic and tarragon, and continue to sauté another 10 minutes, stirring often. At this point increase the heat back to med-high. After the pan comes back to temperature, add the wine and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Slowly cook for another 30 minutes; cook slightly and blend or process in batches until it’s to your liking. (smooth, or chunky?)

After quickly cleaning the cooking pot, put the sauce back in; turn the heat on med-high, add the cream, tarragon and optional Pernod and reduce for another 5 minutes. Serve over 1# cooked pasta, sprinkled and mixed with the cheese.