Ajvar Serbian Roasted Red Pepper Sauce Recipes

AJVAR (SERBIAN ROASTED RED PEPPER RELISH)

Steps:

• Preheat the grill to medium high heat, roughly 450⁰F. (You should be able to hold your hand a few inches above the cooking grate for 4-6 seconds.)
• Pierce the skin of the eggplant all over with a fork. Place the eggplant over a cooler section of the grill (350-400⁰F) and let it roast, turning occasionally, until the skin darkens and the eggplant is soft, 30 minutes.
• While the eggplant is roasting, place the red peppers over the hottest part of the grill. Rotate the peppers as the skin blackens, until the peppers are soft and you have achieved a nice char on all sides.
• Place the charred red peppers in a paper bag or in a glass bowl covered with a tea towel to let them steam for 10 minutes.
• After steaming, the skin on the peppers should have loosened. Remove the stem and core of the peppers and peel off the skin. Place the remaining flesh into the bowl of your food processor.
• Once the eggplant is soft, remove it from the grill. Let it cool until it is easy to handle. Cut the eggplant in half. Scoop out the flesh and place it in the food processor with the red peppers.
• Add the raw garlic clove to the food processor and pulse until the mixture is well chopped.
• Add the olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper, and pulse until combined.*
• Taste your ajvar and adjust the salt and pepper as desired.
• Use your ajvar immediately or keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
• It is a wonderful sauce to serve as an appetizer with bread. And, it also pairs beautifully with cevapi, Eastern European grilled sausages.

AJVAR (SERBIAN ROASTED RED PEPPER SAUCE) RECIPE

Steps:

• Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and arrange coals on one side of the charcoal grate. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate. Place peppers on hot side of grill and cook until blackened all over, 10-15 minutes. Transfer pepper to a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit until cool enough to handle, about 20 minutes. Remove charred skin, seeds, and cores from peppers.
• While the peppers are cooling, pierce skin of eggplant with a fork all over. Place eggplant on cool side of grill. Cover and cook until skin darkens and wrinkles and eggplant is uniformly soft when pressed with tongs, about 30 minutes, turning halfway through for even cooking. Remove eggplant from grill and let sit until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Trim top off eggplant and split lengthwise. Using a spoon, scoop out flesh of eggplant; discard skin.
• Place roasted red peppers, eggplant pulp, and garlic in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse until roughly chopped. Add in oil, vinegar, and salt and pulse until incorporated and peppers are finely chopped.
• Transfer sauce to a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let cool to room temperature then use immediately or transfer to an airtight container and store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.