Lutenitsa
The Bulgarian roasted pepper relish. This spicy-sweet condiment makes a delicious snack or appetizer. Spread it on a toasted bread round or cracker, serve it with meatballs or sausage, or simply spread it on a cold cut sandwich. Adjust the heat by using more–or hotter–peppers, or eliminate the heat altogether by omitting the chilis.
Servings: 6 8 oz. jars
Ingredients
- 4 lbs sweet red peppers
- 2 lbs ripe tomatoes
- 2 jalapeño peppers or 1 Hungarian hot pepper (optional)
- ¼ onion
- 2½ Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp salt
Instructions
- Arrange the peppers on a baking sheet and broil them 10-15 minutes until charred on one side. Turn over and broil an additional 10-15 minutes. When the peppers are blackened on all sides, remove from the oven and place in a covered bowl to steam. This will make removing the skins easier. Let them cool 30 minutes to make them easier to handle and to loosen the skin.
- While the peppers are resting, bring a pot of water to boil. Score the bottoms of the tomatoes with an X and submerge them into the boiling water. After a minute or two remove the tomatoes, rinse under cool water and peel. Roughly chop the tomatoes into quarters and again in half.
- Peel and seed the cooled peppers. Don’t worry too much if you can’t remove every square centimeter of skin as they are going to be pureed and cooked again. Removing as much skin as possible will make for a more pleasing final product as the skins can be chewy. But a little bit of pepper or tomato skin isn’t going to hurt anything.
- Put the peeled peppers, chopped tomatoes, onion and oil into a food processor or blender. Pulse process them on a low-medium setting (blender) or process at high speed (food processor) until they are a chunky sauce consistency similar to a relish or chutney. You can process them longer if you want a very smooth sauce but for spreading on bread or crackers, a little chunkiness is good.
- Pour the sauce into a large heavy pot, season with sugar and salt. Cook uncovered on medium-low heat 1½ to 2 hours. Stir frequently to prevent sticking or burning.
- After the sauce has thickened and nearly reduced by half, run a wooden spoon from the side of the pot towards the center. When the lutenitsa does not immediately flow back to cover the spoon’s trace, it’s done.
Notes
This is a basic lutenitsa recipe. You can experiment with other spices and herbs, such as parsley, garlic or basil.