Ajvar

Ingredients

Quantities for 10 servings.

• 3 kg Fleshy red peppers
• 600 g Aubergines
• 6 clove Garlic
• 250 ml Neutral oil
• 3 tbsp Wine vinegar
• to taste Salt

Method

1. Roast the peppers and aubergines at 220 °C or over a flame until blistered black all over.
2. Pile them hot into a covered pot for twenty minutes: the steam lifts the skin by itself.
3. Peel and seed them and leave the flesh in a colander for two or three hours. Do not press: the water should drain on its own.
4. Put it through a mincer or chop it by hand — not a blender: what is wanted is a coarse texture rather than a purée.
5. Reduce it in a pot with half the oil over a low flame for an hour, stirring every ten minutes.
6. Add the garlic, vinegar, salt and the rest of the oil and cook another half hour, until the oil starts separating. Pack it hot into sterilised jars.