Caponata

My family is "very" Italian, having fed me things like escarole, broccoli rabe, and the old Christmas Eve "Seven Fishes" since I was just a wee tot. Even so, I didn't hear about Caponata until my 30th year, when all my old friends were officially married off so I moved in with two old-fashioned Italian girls who had put out an ad that they needed a third roommate. My roomie Jen Treole, turned me on to Caponata after preparing it for an all-girl "food party" we threw (and may I say it was quite the spread!)

I can't believe that no one in my family has ever made this. It's a wonderful appetizer or main-course side dish, and tastes just as good cold as it does hot.

Caponata prep:

Get yourself a great big sautee pan, cutting board, cheese grater and a good dicing knife.

Wash up/dice up the following veggies:

6 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery (I didn't have any so I didn't use it and mine came out great anyway)
2 small onions or one large one
1 small eggplant (tonight I used white ones - fresh from the farm market)
1 medium size zucchini
half a red pepper
handful of black olives
handful of green olives

other ingredients:

fresh tomato
half a jar of capers
olive oil
red wine vinegar
pinch of sugar (none in my caponata, thanks).

Drizzle some olive oil into the pan, sautee the garlic and onion on very low heat.

Chop the tomato in half and grate directly into the sautee with the cheese grater, then discard the remaining tomato skin (trick I learned from the Spanish - neat, huh?)

Sautee for 10 minutes or so, then add all the other diced veggies. Put the heat up a smidge to about 2 or 3, let cook for about an hour, stirring occasionally and adding a spash more of olive oil here and there if it seems like it's sticking to the bottom of the pan.

At the end, add capers, green and black olives (it really doesn't matter when you add them - I just did it as a big finale - woo hoo!). When everything's nice and mushy, add 2 Tbsp, aka a couple splashes of red wine vinegar. You can also add a pinch of sugar but I didn't and I like the way mine tastes (a lot!) Grind in fresh pepper, sprinkle salt to taste.

Store in refridgerator, serve on crackers or with a side of crusty bread. Keeps for several weeks in fridge.

Also - I read somewhere that Caponata can be used to stuff and stew whole tomatoes (mmm, think how nice this could work with veal or chicken cutlets!). Mine however, is not going to be around long enough for something like that! :)

Bon appetit!

Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing

Custom Search

Talk to Us! Submit a Recipe!

We look forward to hearing about your latest culinary creations, as well as getting ideas and feedback about the website. Please direct your comments and submit your recipes to: