Ajvar

Ajvar

At the winter farmers’ market, The Wife spotted a Ball jar full of beautifully red and rich-looking relish. It was ajvar, a Balkan condiment/appetizer, and it immediately resonated with her Ostrogoth roots. We had to have it.



Back home, I smeared it bread, which I guess is pretty much traditional.



The shiny vegetable morsels look a little like fish roe, and in fact “ajvar” is etymologically related to “caviar.” I believe roasting over a fire is traditional for the tomatoes and eggplant, but I didn’t detect any smokiness.

I’m sure ajvar would be good on meat, like maybe roast beef, but it was so damn tasty, such a burst of fresh tomato goodness in the dead of winter, that I consumed most of this jar straight-up on bread.

The producers of this ajvar are at Videnovich Farms (http://videnovichfarms.com/), who seem to carry on an Eastern European farming tradition.

Hi,

In the Balkans, ajvar accompanies cevapcici. I am often surprised how often it is not offered in some of our local balkan restaurants. You can buy in heat range from hot to mild.

Regards,

It makes an outstanding sandwich spread too -- a little roast beef, a little ajvar, and lunch is less boring.

I love ajvar, and no meal of cevapcici is complete without it (and raw onions). I'm always a little bit heartbroken when a restaurant offers cevapcici and not ajvar (Pizza Art Cafe, I'm looking at you.)

Ajvar makes a good chicken stew, especially with a little sour cream stirred in at the end of cooking. Seriously good, fast dinner fare.

Josephine wrote:Ajvar makes a good chicken stew, especially with a little sour cream stirred in at the end of cooking. Seriously good, fast dinner fare.

You mean you add the ajvar to a chicken stew, as a kind of condiment?

Ajvar and sour cream seem a natural combo.

I just kind of brown the chicken (thighs) and then add a cup or so of ajvar and some chicken stock. The sour cream gets stirred in at the end. Then I serve it over rice or noodles.