chervil – Cook and Drink

Asparagus with Chervil

6 June 2024

One of the classic ways of serving asparagus is à la Flamande (Op Vlaamse wijze) with melted butter, boiled eggs, parsley and nutmeg. The mixture of melted butter and egg is like a sauce, delicious with the asparagus. In this case we add lots of chopped chervil to the mixture of melted butter and eggs, making it a light combination of bitter, crunchy and sweet (the asparagus) and velvety, anise-flavoured and savory (the mixture).

Wine Pairing

Serve the asparagus with a dry, white wine, for instance a glass of Silvaner produced by the German Winery Thörle. The wine comes with freshness, some acidity, minerality and fruit (pear, green apples). Excellent with our asparagus. A dry muscat will also be perfect.
We decided to take a different approach and balance the lightness in the dish with a Portuguese white wine, made from chardonnay grapes and aged for 4 months in oak barrels. It is produced by Casa Ermelinda, a winery some 20 kilometers south of Lisbon in the Setúbal region with over 550 hectares of vineyards and 29 different grape varieties. The barrel aged chardonnay is Intense and comes with a complex bouquet of exotic fruits. The wine is balanced, fresh, elegant and long..

What You Need

4 Asparagus per person
2 Eggs
Chervil
Butter
White Pepper

What You Do

We use our Russel and Hobbs food steamer to prepare the asparagus. An essential kitchen aid for only 50 euro or US dollar.
Clean and peel the asparagus. Put butter in a cup. Steam them for 10+5+5 minutes. After 10 minutes add the eggs to the steamer basket. After 5 minutes, turn the eggs upside down and place the cup in the steamer basket. Another 5 minutes later everything is ready. Chop the chervil. Peel the egg and mash with a fork, creating a ‘mimosa’ of egg. Combine mimosa and chervil. Add some white pepper. Add the butter to the mixture and combine. Spoon the egg mixture on top of the asparagus.

Asparagus a la Flamande ©cadwu — Asparagus with Chervil ©cadwu

Deviled Eggs with Chervil and Crayfish

1 February 2024

Deviled (or stuffed) eggs are a traditional appetizer or hors-d’œuvre, easy, tasty and always welcome. Simply cook the eggs, halve them, scoop out the yolk and mix with butter, cream or mayonnaise and add for instance mustard, or curry powder, or pickles or, well, actually, most combinations work.

The idea of deviled or stuffed egg goes back many years. See for instance this recipe from Carolus Battus (published in 1593). Or try this recipe for uova ripiene from Pellegrino Artusi (1891): boil, peel and halve the eggs. Use one anchovy per two eggs. Use a fork to combine anchovy, egg yolk, a little parsley, very little onion and butter to make a smooth paste. Stuff the eggs with the paste and cover with mayonnaise.

Artusi also described a second recipe: stuff the eggs with a mixture of egg yolk, bread (soaked in milk) and mushrooms (soaked in lukewarm water). Stuff the eggs. Arrange the eggs in an oven dish, cover with potato puree and serve warm. We could imagine topping with grated cheese and turn it into Deviled Eggs Au Gratin.

We combine the eggs with mayonnaise, mustard, chervil and crayfish. Chervil is a delicate herb. It brings a hint of liquorice or anise to food, for instance to omelettes, salads or in this case the egg mixture and the cray fish. Decorating with chervil is not only nice; it also makes the chervil more present.

Drink Pairing

Deviled eggs are flexible when it comes to drink pairing. Simply enjoy with your favourite drink!

What You Need

6 Organic Eggs
Dijon Mustard
Mayonnaise
Chervil
Cray Fish
Black Pepper

What You Do

Boil the eggs, peel and halve. Scoop out the egg yolk, finely chop the chervil, add a teaspoon or two of mustard (after all, they are called deviled egg), two or three teaspoons of mayonnaise, some black pepper and a generous amount of chervil. Mix with a fork. Taste and adjust. Stuff the eggs and decorate with grayfish and chervil. Keeps well in the refrigerator for a few hours if covered with cling foil. Just before serving, decorate the eggs with chervil.

Deviled Eggs with Chervil and Crayfish ©cadwu

Chervil (Pan-) Cakes

29 August 2022

Maastricht is one of the Netherlands most beautiful cities. It’s located in the very south of the country, on both sides of the river Maas. It’s close to Germany (Aachen, Aix-La-Chapelle is only 30 km) and the Belgian city of Liège (25 km). Its culture and cuisine are strongly influenced by France. Maastricht is well known for its excellent local wines (Hoeve Nekum, Apostelhoeve), the hilly countryside and its ceramic.

In 1737 Marie Michon was born in Maastricht. In 1768 she married Albert de Milly. Both families were related to Hugenoten: protestant people who escaped from persecution in France because of their religion and moved (in this case) to the Netherlands in 1685. One of her daughters was Thérèse Elisabeth de Milly, who married the German Baron Friedrich Ludwich Behr in 1792. Clearly a rich and influential family. Mother and daughter wrote down recipes and practical households tips. There are two ‘cahiers’, known under the title ‘Natuurlijk Kookboek van Beproefde en Ondervonden Echte Recepten voor een Zindelijk Huijshouden’. The title would translate into something like ‘Natural Cookbook of Tried-and-Tested Real Recipes for a Proper and Clean Household’. In 2008 44 recipes were included in a book written by Marleen Willebrands.

In the Historisch Kookboek Vega written by Manon Henzen we noticed a recipe for chervil (pan-) cakes, based on one of the recipes of Marie Michon and Thérèse Elisabeth de Milly. Chervil, although its taste is delicate, was considered to be a very powerful and useful herb. It relieved symptoms of gout, high blood pressure, gas, eczema etcetera. The original recipe suggest frying the pancakes per 3. Which made us think of the traditional Dutch dish ‘drie in de pan’. These are small pancakes made with flour, yeast, eggs, milk and (optional) raisins. Fried per three, indeed.

The dough of the chervil pancakes is a combination of eggs, all-purpose flour, bread crumbs, melted butter, yeast, sugar and cinnamon. Add lots of chopped chervil, allow to rest and fry in a pan. We also added chopped parsley and chives.
The pancakes looked very nice and inviting. When eating them we were slightly disappointed (a bit heavy, a bit dry). Perhaps we should have thought about a sauce?

More information (Dutch only) about the original recipes from 1785 can be found on the website of DBNL.

White Asparagus with Chervil

14 April 2021

A salad can be an excellent starter of your lunch or dinner, provided it’s one with lots of flavour and gentle acidity. For instance a Salade Niçoise, a Salade Caprese or a salad of White Asparagus and Chervil.

Chervil is a very delicate herb. It tastes like anise, but it is much more refined. Chervil looses its taste almost immediately when heated. The salad needs to be prepared well in advance, allowing for the flavours to be well integrated.

Honey can easily ruin a salad (and sugar will always ruin a salad). In this case we use only a touch of honey to create an environment for the sweetness of the white asparagus. The honey should act as a trigger.

The salad is a great example of the complexity of white asparagus: you will taste the sweetness and the freshness of the asparagus. The mouth feel of the salad is very nice, because the asparagus will be both juicy and crispy, with the chervil, honey and vinegar in a supporting role.

After having mixed the salad you will notice that the asparagus and chervil absorb the dressing. During the time in the refrigerator the asparagus will loose some juices, which is actually the beginning of a great dressing.

Wine Pairing

Combining salad and wine is not straightforward. Especially the acidity of the dressing creates a challenge. One solution is to use verjuice and not vinegar. Verjuice is made by pressing unripe grapes. The idea is that verjuice links to wine, whereas classic vinegar or lemon juice would compete with wine. In this case we choose a wine that reflects the flavours of the salad: a hint of anise, a touch of sweetness and florality. Typical notes you will find in a wine from the Alsace region, for instance a Pinot Blanc or a Pinot Gris.

What You Need

2 White Asparagus per person
Excellent Olive Oil
White Wine Vinegar or Verjuice
Lots of Chervil
Touch of Honey
White Pepper

What You Do

Steam the asparagus for 10 minutes. Let cool. Dry with kitchen paper if needed. Prepare a dressing with the olive oil and vinegar. Chop the chervil and add to the dressing. Add a touch of honey and stir well. Add some white pepper. Taste the dressing: it should be a balance, meaning that none of the ingredients is overly present. Now slice the asparagus in nice chunks, let’s say 3 centimetres long. Mix, cover and transfer to the refrigerator for 6 hours. Mix the salad every two hours. Check the taste after 4 hours, you may want to adjust. Mix the dressing just before serving.