Dear Seafoodies
I find it curious that, at a time when, in supermarkets, we can easy get hold of Korean Gochuchang, Japanese Tamari, Malaysian Katsup Manis, Indian Chaat Masala, Filipino Kalamansi Juice, (you get the theme), we can't buy a home-grown herb. Maybe it's a home-not-very-much-grown herb? Or maybe there just isn't much demand for it? It's very popular and very easy to get hold of in France. And no-one can say that there aren't many French people here that might like to buy some!
Chervil is a great partner herb for fish, chicken and eggs in particular. It's also one of the quaternity that is the "fines herbes" hailing from classic French cuisine - parsley, tarragon, chervil and chives - and championed by the revered French chef Auguste Escoffier, also an entry in the bible of cuisine "Larousse Gastronomique" (1938).
Using it is no more difficult that any of the herbs that accompany it in the classic blend but it's just difficult to get hold of. Apparently the simple answer is to grow it yourself - on the windowsill perhaps. But my fingers are so devoid of greenness they could kill a rosemary plant. I lie. They have killed a rosemary plant!
One source that can supply chervil a great deal of the time is my regular veg-box supplier, Riverford (here's the chervil). And I checked - they do grow it in the UK, and it's organic! So it is out there, just not if we need to 'pop out' and get some at the last minute.
Anyway, for those who enjoy (or wish to enjoy) the delicate, gently anise-scented contribution that chervil can make to a fish dish, you know where you can get it, and here are a few recipes that capture it superbly (images clockwise from top-left):
