Spice mixture of Quarner (Kvarner)

Traditional quarnerian cuisine is full of scents and tastes of aromatic herbs and spices. Whether you are looking at a plate of soup, a fish stew or "brodet", salsa, or just scrambled eggs, those plants, mostly wild with traces of salt, are the main detail whish gives the old dishes of Quarner this special, distinctive tone. That abundant use of herbs is making cuisine of Quarner so different from other parts of croatian coast. A breath of past time in these flavors remained still an attractive gastronomic experience


Ingredients:

a bunch of parsley
a bunch of celery
5 branches rosemary
5 bay leaves
10 big leaves of basil
10 big leaves of sage
10 big leaves marjoram
bunch of fennel leaves
half the bunch of wild onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of salt
olive oil
and optional
1 teaspoon of lavender buds



Although originally not quarnerian herb, lavender has been a "resident" of this region for a very long time and is used in many medicinal purposes. With its rich scent and taste, lavender will enrich this spice mixture of typical quarnerian plants.

Shortly wash from any impurities all the plants you have collected. Dry before further processing.

Preparing in the mortar

Chop all the finer herbs and pistillate them well to be more fragmented, almost turned into a pulp. Essential oils of these plants will quickly moisten the mixture and kneading will be easier.
Add salt and olive oil just how much is needed to be absorbed by plants. Again stir well.

Modern way of preparing with the help of a blender

In a high narrow container chop all the herbs to very small pieces. Add salt and olive oil.
Mix the plants with a hand blender as long as possible to convert the plant into a pulp. Pour some more oil as needed to be absorbed by the herbs and still to remain on the surface a little bit. Once again, stir well.

Serving

Put a mixture made of aromatic herbs in a clean jar, close tightly and keep in the cold. When useing, it will suffice to add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon to a food near the end of cooking.

My original recipe in croatian is on  Coolinarika - "Kvarnerska začinska mješavina"