Caponata is a Sicilian eggplant dish consisting of a cooked vegetable salad made from chopped roasted eggplant and other wonderfully seasoned vegetables, vinegar, sugar, olive and capers, a really good olive oil and more. It’s also know as “eggplant appetizer” if you buy it in the can (but, ew).
INGREDIENTS
2 large eggplants, remove skin, cut into small chunks
2 tablespoons salt
1/4 cup good extra virgin olive oil Plus more for sprinkling on the raw eggplant before roasting
1 large onion, chopped small
1-1/2 cups crushed tomatoes (I like Cento)
1/2 cup green Italian olives, sliced
3 tablespoons capers packed in brine, drained
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (or to taste)
2 tablespoons sugar (or to taste)
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
…and, a handful of fresh basil, chopped
LET’S GET COOKING
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put the eggplant into a strainer and salt well and toss. Let the eggplant sit like that for about a half an hour. Put the salted eggplant on a baking sheet and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Roast for about 20 minutes until it’s really soft. While your eggplant is roasting get out a large frying pan, sauté the onions in 1/4 cup of olive oil on medium for about 5-7 minutes. Then add the crushed tomatoes and basil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add olives, capers, vinegar and sugar and let simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Add the roasted eggplant and stir until blended, continue simmering for another 10-12 minutes. Add salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot or cold on crusty bread or crackers.
I like to make this ahead of time and refrigerate because it gives all the flavors time to marry. I prefer eating it cold. This is my grandma’s recipe. She used celery in hers, but I feel the flavor of celery takes over, so I just eliminated it. There are variations of this caponata that you can buy in a can, but they are SO sweet you can’t taste anything but sugar, so I recommend trying this recipe. It’s fresh, you’ll taste all the wonderful ingredients and people you serve it to will just go crazy for it.
