Italian Seasoning Blend

Italian Seasoning Blend is very handy to have in your spice cupboard and very easy to make from scratch.  It goes well with fish or chicken, works well in a salad dressing and is great when you just want a different flavour in a recipe for a change of pace.

I generally keep a pretty well stocked spice cupboard, but I don’t buy spice blends.  Most of the time I make them myself to avoid unwanted ingredients like salt or sugar and making them from scratch avoids what you don’t want, but also adjust to your own taste. I also use my individual herbs and spices faster creating a quick turnover leading to fresher herbs and spices on hand.  You can also just make what I need.

Adding home grown and dried herbs make this blend shine, Store the dried herbs whole and crush them only when you are ready to add them to your cooking, or in this case, the blend.  The aroma is amazing and the favour is enhanced by waiting to crush the ingredients, elevating the blend and whatever you are adding it to.

I use hot pepper flakes in this blend but that it optional, and so is the amount.  I like some heat but not a lot.  You can absolutely leave it out or increase it, depending on your taste or recipe requirements. 

One other ingredient that I add is ground rosemary.  I’m not even sure if you can buy it.  I love fresh rosemary and dried will certainly work for adding the rosemary flavour.  I don’t like the texture of dried rosemary so instead I grind it into a powder.  You can substitute 3 teaspoons of dried whole rosemary if you prefer. 

Keep an eye out in the future for recipes that use this blend which I will be posting in the coming months.