Italian Vegetable Recipes Online

Although not strictly a vegetable, the tomato plays an important part in Italian cookery.

In the Vucceria market of Palermo, tomatoes are crushed, cooked and then dried in the sun. This turns them into a dark red solid paste called Estratto di Pomodoro. This is an ideal method of preserving the tomato for use throughout the year, and the technique is still used by some Southern Italian farmers today. This product, known as Conserva di Pomodor, started to be commercialized in the 1840s and sold in the markets where it is cut in slices and served on fresh fig leaves.

Whole or halved sun-dried tomatoes have become increasingly popular and are widely used as a condiment. They are available in packs or ready-soaked in jars of olive oil. Passata (sieved tomatoes) too is readily available in jars.