Eggplant Caponata

Caponata is a traditional Sicilian eggplant dish, and apparently sufficiently precise in the ingredients called for that any variations can usually be traced to a particular location. However, since I am nowhere near Sicily, as usual I don't much care about that, and put in all the features that sounded good to me. 

The result is a tasty dish with sweet and sour tang and a salty hit from the capers or olives. It looks stewed - it is stewed, really - but it is served more as a salad, or you can pile it on nice crusty bread. It's popular to serve it with tuna, to make it more of a main dish. In that case I would omit, or at least reduce, the capers or olives. Ideally, it should be good tuna packed in olive oil, but if not, drain it well and drizzle it with a little olive oil, then mix it into the caponata.

 

 6 to 8 servings

1 hour prep time - allow time for cooling

450 grams (1 pound; 2 medium) eggplant

2 stalks of celery

1 medium onion

1 small yellow or red pepper

2 or 3 medium tomatoes

1 or 2 cloves of garlic

4 tablespoons olive oil 

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons raisins

1/4 cup finely shredded fresh basil leaves

1 tablespoon capers OR 2 tablespoons chopped olives

Put a pot of water on to boil. Wash, trim, and cut the eggplant into smallish bite-sized pieces, and put them aside.Wash and trim the celery, and chop it. Peel and chop the onion. Wash, core, and chop the pepper. Put these 3 things aside as a group. Blanch the tomatoes in the boiling water for one minute, then rinse them in cold water. Peel them and chop them, keeping them separate. Peel and mince the garlic.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large non-reactive skillet. Toss the eggplant in it and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until softened and slightly browned. Once it is going well, drizzle over another tablespoon of olive oil. I found it helpful to add about a quarter of a cup of water in the middle of the process to help it cook down. This will take about 10 minutes. When the eggplant is well cooked, transfer to a bowl. Wash out the pan if it is very brown and crusty. 

Heat the final tablespoon of oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the celery, onion, and pepper, and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes until softened and reduced in volume. Again, I added a quarter cup of water to speed the process and keep things moist. While this cooks is a good time to clean and shred the basil leaves.

Add the garlic and mix it in for about a minute, then add the tomatoes and mix them in well. Let them cook in for several minutes then add the vinegar and raisins. Mix in, and cook for another couple of minutes until the raw vinegar odour is cooked off. Everything should look well-done and quite amalgamated. Transfer the caponata to a storage container. Mix in the basil and capers or olives, and let the caponata cool to room temperature. It can now be served, or keep it refrigerated until wanted and bring it back up to room temperature before serving. 

Last year at this time I made Broccoli Salad with Vaguely Thai Peanut Dressing.