Zacusca (Romanian Vegetable Spread)

I love, love, love this dish!  The flavors are unbelievable, as there's roasting and slow cooking involved.  My awesome sister made this and I truly appreciate all of the effort she put into this.  Zacusca is an excellent dish, but it takes an insane amount of time to make it (it took her 12 hours!).  My sister did this while she cared for her very young family, so this deseves a super extra A plus!  You can eat it warm, but cold, straight out of the fridge is probably the best way of enjoying it. The recipe below makes A LOT of it, but that's OK because it stores nicely in the pantry, at room temperature.  It's a great way of enjoying veggies during the cold months.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-11 lbs eggplants
-8.5 lbs bell peppers (red, yellow, green, all work just fine)
-6.5 lbs tomatoes
-4.5 lbs onions
-about 2 cups vegetable oil (start with 1 cup as you may need to use less-use your own judgment on this one :)
-salt, black peppercorns, bay leaves, according to your taste
Directions:
Place eggplants and bell peppers on hot grill.  Roast until done.  As soon as they're done cooking, put the peppers in a large bowl and season generously with salt.  Cover them tightly and set aside for about 30 minutes.
Once the eggplants are done, score the bottom (but don't cut it completely) and place them in a colander-this will allow the bitter juice to come out of them.
Peel the charred skin off the peppers and cut them into chunks (size is up to you).  Peel the eggplants as well and mush them well, but don't turn them into liquid (you may use the blender, if wanted).  Set all of these aside.

Boil the tomatoes, peel them and put them in blender, until you get a nice puree like juice.

Heat up the oil in a large skillet.  Dice the onion and cook in hot oil.  Add the eggplants and stir well.  Let it simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the pepper chunks and cook for 5 more minutes.  Stir in the tomatoes.  Simmer until the oil reaches the surface and it looks clear.  Season with salt, peppercorns and bay leaves.  Let it simmer for 5 more minutes.

Remove mixture from the stove and divide it between glass jars, as hot as it is.  Cover jars with lids.  Place the jars into a large dish with boiling water.  The water is supposed to cover the top of the lids.  Boil everything for 5-10 minutes.  Remove jars and place on a large towel.  Let them sit for 24 hours.  Remove peppercorns and bay leaves before eating.:)

Enjoy!
Recipe courtesy of my awesome sister, Irina.