Caponata: Made in the Sicilian Way Without Leaving the Comfort of Your Own Home…
The famous Caponata is a Sicilian eggplant dish, a cooked vegetable salad made from chopped fried eggplant and celery seasoned with sweetened vinegar, and capers in a sweet sour sauce. Numerous local variations of the ingredients exist with some versions adding olives, carrots and green bell peppers, and others adding potatoes, or pine nuts and raisins. There is even a Palermo version that adds octopus, while an aristocratic Sicilian recipe includes lobster and swordfish garnished with wild asparagus, grated dried tuna roe and shrimp! But the general rule is of a sweet and sour cooked vegetable stew or salad.
Today caponata is typically used as a side dish for fish dishes and sometimes as an appetizer, but since the 1700s it has also been used as a main course. Caponata is an example of the eggplant-tomato combination that is found in many Mediterranean cuisines, such as Provençal ratatouia, Catalan Samfaina, Maltese kapunata and the different moussaka found in the eastern Mediterranean. Mangiare!
Caponata Ingredients:
- 1 large Eggplant, chopped into ¾ inch pieces
- 2 T Extra virgin olive oil (use the good stuff, really… it matters)
- 1 Onion, chopped into small pieces 3-5 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
- 1 cup Italian tomato sauce, homemade.
- ¼ cup Red wine
- 3 T Capers
- ¼ Black olives, chopped (salt cured or Kalamata)
- ¼ cup Pine nuts, toasted
- 3 T Balsamic vinegar
- ½ t Cocoa powder, unsweetened
- 2 T Turbinado sugar
- ¼ cup Basil, fresh and chopped
- Good quality sea salt, i.e. fleur de sel
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Anchovy fillets (optional for garnish)
- More Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling at plating (again, the good stuff)
- Shavings of parmigiano reggiano (optional garnish)
Preparation:
In a small saucepan, toast pine nuts until light brown in color. Do not over cook or pine nuts will get bitter. Set aside.
Place the eggplant cubes in a colander and apply about 2 T of kosher salt. Shake the colander to coat the eggplant evenly with the salt.
Set the colander in the sink and put a plate inside the colander so it is in direct contact with the eggplant.
Place a weight, such as some heavy canned goods on the plate so the plate will press down on the eggplant. (The purpose is to squeeze some of the sometimes bitter juices out of the eggplant. (About a half an hour process.)
Heat your oven to 375°F.
Wipe off the eggplant to remove as much of the salt and clinging juices as you can.
Spread the eggplant on a greased baking sheet and bake for 35 minutes. The eggplant should be nice and golden brown by now.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet to medium level.
Add the onions and sauté for about 4 minutes.
Add the garlic, black olives, pine nuts and capers and cook another 2-3 minutes.
In a small sauce pan, combine the balsamic vinegar and the sugar. Heat over medium until the sugar dissolves.
Add the balsamic vinegar/sugar and the red wine to the eggplant mixture and reduce the liquid by half.
Add the roasted eggplant, basil and the cocoa powder. Cook a minute or two to combine.
Add the tomato sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. The mixture should be thickened to “dip” consistency.
The caponata is best if refrigerated overnight and brought back to room temperature before serving.
Serve the dip with toasted garlic, pita slices. Garlic toast will suffice in lieu of pita bread.
Caponata is unusual enough, unless you are decidedly Italian, you may not have ever had it. Now you can.
Note: If eggplant is not your favorite thing, try this with chopped artichoke hearts. Just add the pieces to the onions to start this dish and cook exactly the same way!
