Ajvar

Begin by roasting the red bell peppers and the eggplants, either on a hot grill, or in the oven on high heat. The goal is blacken all of the skin on both the eggplants and the peppers. This process takes about 25 minutes. Make sure to turn them frequently. Once the skins are blackened, place them in a Ziplock bag, or paper bag, seal the bag and let them rest for about another 10 minutes. What happens when the vegetables are sealed in the bag is that they begin to steam and allow you to easily remove the thicker skins on both vegetables.

Once the vegetables are slightly cooled, remove the skins off of all vegetables. Also remove their stems. Add the eggplant to a food processor. Before adding the red bell peppers to the food processor, make sure you remove the seeds from them.

Next, toss in the remaining ingredients and begin pulsing the mixture until it is nice and smooth. If you want more texture in your ajvar, by all means pulse it down to your desired consistency. Me? I like it nice and smooth.

Transfer this mixture to a large saucepan, and bring it to medium heat, covered, and cook for about one hour on a simmer. Then remove from heat and let cool.

Once your ajvar is cooled, pour into storage containers, and when you are ready to eat, simply spread it onto bread such as naan, or heck, even some nice crostini. First bite, and you will understand how delicious this condiment is. The big question is why are we learning about how awesome ajvar is today?

Hope you enjoy.