Oven-Baked Zucchini Caviar for Winter

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   How do you make zucchini caviar in the oven for winter? Gather the ingredients. Any zucchini works, mature or young — young ones give a more delicate flavor. The tomatoes, along with the sunflower oil, salt, sugar, and vinegar, act as preservatives. Sometimes I make it without vinegar.

2. Step 2:

   

   Wash all the vegetables well. Cut the zucchini into rounds, scoop out the core, and peel off the tough outer skin. If the zucchini are young, you can leave the core in (as long as no seeds have formed yet). Peel the onion and carrot too, and core the pepper.

3. Step 3:

   

   Cut all the vegetables into large pieces. Spread the zucchini and carrot pieces on a baking pan — a deep-sided one is best, since it holds more.

4. Step 4:

   

   Add the onion, cut into quarters.

5. Step 5:

   

   Cut the tomatoes in half and add them to the pan as well.

6. Step 6:

   

   Now pour the sunflower oil over everything and add the salt and sugar.

7. Step 7:

   

   Cover the pan tightly with foil and roast the vegetables at 465°F (240°C) for about an hour and a half — the exact time depends on your oven, the size of the pieces, and how ripe the vegetables are.

8. Step 8:

   

   Transfer the vegetables to a heavy-bottomed pot so you can boil them.

9. Step 9:

   

   Purée the roasted vegetables with an immersion blender.

10. Step 10:

    

    The zucchini-vegetable mixture should be as smooth as possible. Bring it to a boil, taste for salt and sugar, and stir in the vinegar. While it's still boiling, ladle the caviar into sterile jars, seal them with sterile lids, and set them upside down under a blanket until fully cooled. That said, you can eat the caviar right away (in which case, skip the vinegar). Enjoy!