Many thanks to steven for the tip on ajvar. I was just too hot and sticky for much cooking this evening, but fortunately I stopped at Turquoise yesterday. The little Turkish Deli on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill has lots of goodies to take out, including their own yogurt, grape leaves, and pastries. And they had the ajvar. This spread of red pepper, eggplant, oil and garlic is much the consistency of mayonaisse, and seems to work well in a lot of the same contexts. There is a super spicy version, and a less spicy version. I tried the less spicy version first.
I made a sort of Middle Eastern shrimp salad with it, and I think it's pretty good.It had a pound of shrimp, boiled with some Old Bay Seasoning and shelled, and about a pound of boiled fingerling potatoes, sliced yellow and red peppers, spring onions, a few oil cured olives, fresh chives, mint and cilantro, a squirt of lemon, and a few tablespoons of the ajvar. Smoked paprika and sliced hard boiled egg to top it off. We had it with grilled cheesy bruschetta, and cherries for dessert. There's just enough left for a sandwich for lunch tomorrow, after friend I. and I had some dinner. (No small eaters around here.)
Nice easy cleanup, too, which is good, as I have friends coming for dinner tomorrow. There is to be a peach pie, as you will see.
Wow, that really looks super good. I must look for Ajvar.
Posted by: Tanna | July 27, 2006 at 09:31 PM
oh
my
GOD!
i CANNOT believe you just posted about AJVAR!
this was hand DOWN the favorite thing that the boy and i brought back from our trip to Croatia!
we have a jar stashed in the fridge that we're taking with us when we visit my folks up in the Adirondacks this weekend so we can make them Cevapcici!
I actually have a recipe for how to make if if you want it, just email me and i'll send it to you!
it's THE GREATEST STUFF ON EARTH!
yay!
Posted by: ann | July 27, 2006 at 10:01 PM
Wow, this looks great. I'm going to try making some ajvar towards the end of the pepper season here when the red ones start showing up at the farm stand and I'm growing some baci di satana peppers to give it a little heat. (well a LOT of heat). Peach pie? You have my full attention.
Posted by: steven | July 27, 2006 at 10:30 PM
tanna-you will love this-it's so goood. You can really taste both the peppers and the eggplant in this one.
ann-yes please on the recipe.
steven-I think I may need to make some too-although it was very reasonably priced. Maybe I should just go down there and buy them out of both kinds. I can just picture them all lined up on my shelf.
Posted by: lindy | July 27, 2006 at 11:14 PM
geez lindy. save some for the rest of us.
i've *almost* gone into that store many times. but without an explicit reason or item to buy i was always afraid i'd wind up with something i didn't REALLY need, want or know how to use.
armed with your clear and clever suggestions i can now enter fearlessly. if i pick up a little something else in addition no harm done. unless i find a big gaping empty hole on the shelf.
and i'll skip the peach pie, to save room for the promised alsatian cuisine.
in other news, i'm thinking i might make an adaptation that zuke torte from the kretschmann's newsletter since (a) i like tortes (b) i have about a million zukes and (c) i could put a fun herb in the crust.
Posted by: zp | July 28, 2006 at 11:04 AM
hiya lindy!
i know i have this in one of my cookbooks, but, to be honest, i'm knackered!
i'm heading out of town for a week tomorrow, had to work a he**ish day at work today and am completely brain dead, so here's a reliable link for:
ajvar: http://tinyurl.com/f9q7k
and for cevapcici (the traditional vehicle for ajvar in the former yugoslavia): http://tinyurl.com/gd8rd
i'm actually planning on making cevapcici for my family while we're all up in the 'dacks together
check in in a week to see if i succeeded!!
happy weekend!
Posted by: ann | July 28, 2006 at 09:48 PM
I've tried to go into Turquoise twice now, since you've gotten me so excited about it, but they seem to keep odd hours, and not the ones posted on the door, either. I'll give them another try since I've clearly got to get hold of some of this ajvar stuff.
Posted by: Rebecca | July 28, 2006 at 10:24 PM
I buy this stuff in multiples! There are some brands full of fat and sugar though ...
Posted by: Alanna | August 02, 2006 at 10:45 AM
i did it! i actually made the cevapcici from scratch :-)
Posted by: ann | August 12, 2006 at 11:28 AM
Oh Ann-I'd love the recipe?
Posted by: lindy | August 13, 2006 at 08:32 AM