170 Some Interesting Italian Seasonings

I bought another Italian cookbook titled 'Red, White and Greens - the Italian Way with Vegetables' and finished reading it over the weekend.

There were some very novel recipes in there but two in particular stood out and I would like to hear from those of you living in Italy if you have encountered them.

The first was fennel pollen. Apparently this is a seasoning used in Tuscany - not often sold though. They collect the open flowers of wild fennel, dry them, then rub out the pollen and use this as a seasoning. Supposed to be very nice.

The second one is a now defunct Neapolitan recipe for sweet pepper paste. This was apparently used before tomatoes became common and took the place of tomato paste in recipes. It is made by cooking red or yellow peppers, peeling them, then pushing them through a strainer or blending them, cooking in an oven for a few hours to reduce to the consistency of wet clay (this used to be done by leaving it out in the sun) and then storing in jars under oil. This paste was then diluted to taste for use over pasta, on bread, etc. It has apparently been revived in some parts of Italy.

Both sound very interesting and quite doable but I am curious to know if any of you have encountered them?

Category
Food & Drink

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/04/2005 - 07:09

ciao sano,
going away from seasonins we had an interesting appetiser in le marche last just which was a very sirupy jam type of spread when i asked the waiter what it was he said it was wine which had been reduced to this consistency, it was served with a plateful of local cheese, unfortunately i can not remember what the name of this dish was, ciao marco

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/04/2005 - 10:55

[QUOTE=marco]ciao sano,
going away from seasonins we had an interesting appetiser in le marche last just which was a very sirupy jam type of spread when i asked the waiter what it was he said it was wine which had been reduced to this consistency, it was served with a plateful of local cheese, unfortunately i can not remember what the name of this dish was, ciao marco[/QUOTE]

In South Africa there is a jam that is made with fruit (cannot remember which type) and wine. Never tried it as the thought never appealed much.

Was this spread sweet or did it have an intense wine flavour?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/04/2005 - 12:50

ciao sano, no it was not too sweet but definately not bitter, it accompanied the stronger of the cheeses very well. ciao marco