Caponata Cooking Recipe, Ingredients, Cooking Method
Dating back to the sixteenth century there are now more than thirty versions of this dish.
Serves 4
Resting time: 1 hour
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants
- 1 tablespoon
- kosher salt
- ¼ cup (1 ½ oz./40 g) capers in salt
- 1 onion
- 2 sticks celery
- A few fresh basil leaves
- ⅓ cup (1 ½ oz./40 g) pine nuts
- ¾ cup (5 oz./150 g) pitted green olives
- 7 oz. (200 g) tomato sauce
- 4 tablespoons wine vinegar
- 1 ⅔ tablespoons (⅔ oz./20 g) sugar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt, pepper
Cooking Method
- Wash the eggplants, and cut into small cubes.
- Sprinkle with the kosher salt and leave to drain for 1 hour in a colander.
- Rinse the capers. Peel the onion and chop.
- Wash and peel the celery, and cut into approximately V2 in. (10 mm) slices. Wash the basil.
- Rinse the eggplant cubes, dry thoroughly, then cook them gently in a skillet with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil until they begin to soften.
- Cook the chopped onion and the celery in a saucepan with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.
- When they become translucent, add the pine nuts, capers, and olives, then, 1 minute later, the tomato sauce.
- Season with salt and pepper and the basil leaves, then cook for 10 minutes.
- Mix together the vinegar and sugar and pour into the mixture. Let evaporate.
- Finally, add the eggplant, cook for a few more minutes, and then leave to cool.
- Serve cold.
Suggested food/wine match
- Planeta, Cerasuolo di Vittoria—Sicily DOCG
