Summer Veggies Save the Winter

The hard work begins as soon as the end of summer gets close, when the gardens and markets are full of juicy peppers, tomatoes and aubergines. The star of late summer/early autumn cooking is the versatile red pepper.

“Useless peppers? There’s no such thing.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

Grilling is the first thing on everyone’s mind, and when there’s still enough warm weather for a barbecue, tossing red banana peppers on the grill is only natural. You’ll be rewarded if you restrain yourself from eating them straight away and make a versatile little dish called pečene paprike (grilled peppers, what else?) - it can be used as side dish, cold salad, ingredient for fingerfood, sandwiches, or just on its own. Basically, you peel the skins off, add garlic, pepper, olive oil and some herbs. Prepared like this, peppers can last for several days, but usually they’re gone much sooner. If you close them in a jar and add vinegar, you get pickled peppers, which can keep whole winter.

“Grilled and marinated red peppers.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

The smell of grilled peppers coming from other people’s houses and flats will follow you for weeks. That means it’s time for serious business, a level up from the grilled peppers - the making of ajvar. This beloved relish is not native to Croatia. Originating from Serbia, nowadays it’s considered a Balkan speciality, and similar recipes with some variations can be found all over Central and Eastern Europe. Putting the history aside, ajvar found its way to the hearts and stomachs of Croats and it’s one of the most favourite condiments, especially with grilled meat. Which, it’s no surprise, we eat a lot! When it’s really good, you only need bread and eat it like a spread. Basically it’s made from grilled peppers, aubergine and garlic, but everyone has some secret ingredient or procedure up their sleeve. Usually you can find it in two categories: ljuti (spicy) and blagi (mild).

“Making ajvar is a skill that comes with experience.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

When the peppers are gone, you’re now ready to make use of those beutiful and flavourful homegrown tomatoes which you just can’t get rid of. Dilligent cooks will prepare dozens and dozens of jars of homemade tomato sauce or puree for the cold days. Which come in very handy when you have no time for cooking and the available ingredients are very sparse - a tomato soup or sauce for pasta is just minutes away. And it brings back the smell and memories of summer. The upgraded version is colloquially known as šalša. There are no strict rules, tomatoes are the base, and most often the accompanying ingredients include garlic, onion, pepper, herbs. It’s the perfect match for pasta, but also nice with rice or polenta.

“Stash of homade tomato sauce guarantees a happy winter.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

And for those impatient ones, living for the moment and not preparing for the winter, late summer’s signature dish is sataraš - continental Croatia’s answer to ratatouille. This light stew dish is made from onion, pepper and tomato, but some carrot, courgette or aubergine won’t hurt. Eat it warm or hot, as starter of side dish, you can’t go wrong. As you see, no pepper or tomato can be left behind when we have so many ways to prepare them. So use them all, and use them wisely. 

Header image credit: Taste of Croatia

Author: Taste of Croatia