Paparine 

The paparine 'nfucate or stewed rosolacci, are an ancient and tasty traditional poor dish much appreciated throughout Salento. Most of the typical Apulian regional recipes have as basic ingredients products of the "poor cuisine", or those that, for reasons above all of an economic nature, were used by the ancient laborers in the preparation of tasty dishes instead of being destined for waste. This is the case, for example, of the "paparina", a dish now widely revalued so as to be a delicacy served in the best local restaurants. Better known as poppy rosolaccio, paparina is the demonstration of how nothing is thrown away in the kitchen. 

This plant, with a slightly sweetish taste that grows spontaneously in large quantities in uncultivated fields and turns out to be a pest in those sown with wheat, is harvested before flowering (between autumn and winter) to prepare salads, soups and typical dishes of the Salento tradition. In the trattorias of Salento it is easy to find it as a side dish, according to the most typical recipe of "paparine 'nfucate", that is, sautéed in olive oil with garlic, black olives and chili together with other wild herbs such as turnip broccoli and cauliflower and some lapazium leaves, as quoted by the famous Lecce proverb "without lu lapazzu la paparina ce me la fazzu?" or "what do I do with paparina without lapazium?". 

There is also a second variant, typical of the area of Santa Maria di Leuca, called "fried paparina" in which orange peel is added to the aforementioned ingredients. Whichever way it is cooked, you can enjoy them as a main course accompanied by homemade bread, as a side dish or use it to stuff focaccia. Curiosity: The inhabitants of Miggiano, in the province of Lecce, are called "mangia-paparine" because they keep alive the ancient tradition of preparing and offering this dish, together with pork, to tourists visiting the country on the occasion of the "fiera te Miscianu" held on the third Sunday of October.

Have you ever eaten a nice plate of "Fritta"? You don't know what you missed. Here with us is a very appreciated vegetable that is also called "Paparina". A spontaneous plant that turns into a beautiful flower, the red poppy, between May and June. Its scientific name is (Papaver rhoeas) belonging to the Papaveraceae family. The petals of the flower have bland soporific properties well known since ancient times by the Latins and Greeks. Small doses were used to prepare infusions that had the power to make particularly agitated children sleep. Surely you have happened to be enchanted in front of a field full of poppies, expanses of red that color the countryside in June. As children we had fun in the fields with poppy buds, we leafed through it until the flower sprouted. In the kitchen only the plant is used when it is still green, before flowering, in the winter months until spring. The name "fried" perhaps derives from the fact that this preparation involves cooking in plenty of extra virgin olive oil, strictly Salento, together with a good handful of black olives "celline".

Ingredients

1 kg of Paparine

2 cloves of garlic

2 or 3 chili peppers

Black olives

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Preparation

 Clean the vegetables and wash them in plenty of water, several times, to remove any residual soil. In the pot brown the garlic cloves and chilies with extra virgin olive oil. Pour the "Paparine", drain from excess water, add salt and turn them. Continue cooking for about 30 minutes. The vegetables will be greatly reduced in volume, add the black olives towards the end and continue cooking another 15m until all the liquid is absorbed. Serve them with excellent bread and a nice glass of Salento Rosé wine.

Negroamaro Rosato Salento IGP is a stand-out wine in Tinazzi’s portfolio. If Chiaretto is a child of the lake, Negroamaro Rosato is a child of the sea. It hails from the area of Alto Salento, where Tinazzi has had its new home for ten years.

When you think of Salento, the expanses of vineyards planted with bush-vines, trained low to protect the ripening grapes from the sun’s rays, immediately come to mind. From Taranto and Brindisi, shaping Italy’s heel, this is the land of Negroamaro, an ancient variety which was already present at the time of Greek colonisation.

Negroamaro Rosato is one of the most traditional expressions of the grape, vinified by Tinazzi as a monovarietal and producing an elegant, coral hued wine with brilliant luminosity. On the nose there are aromas of wild berries, blackberries and pomegranate, with floral and mineral hints. The palate is refreshing and tangy, with excellent balance and pleasing softness.