Caponata

Caponata is a Sicilian aubergine dish in a sweet and sour sauce. The first time I cooked it, Mr BFWT and I were not entirely convinced we would like it. We soon discovered how delightfully wrong we were.

The finished product, served on toasted bread with a simple rocket salad

We saw caponata on the menu at nearly every restaurant we walked by in Palermo, and even saw it in tins in the grocery store. Since returning from holiday we've been on an Italian food binge and I couldn't resist the temptation to cook another Sicilian dish. We ate this caponata on thick toasted slices of olive sourdough bread from a local bakery as a starter before Friday dinner.

Caponata is traditionally served chilled, but I tend to prefer it piping hot off the stove.

I used this recipe as inspiration but have made several changes since cooking it the first time. I reduced the amount of pine nuts, doubled the amount of aubergine and celery, and used more garlic.

The ingredients

Recipe
40g or 1/3 cup pine nuts
Olive oil
15 ml or 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
15 ml or 1tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 large aubergine, cut into small cubes
1 rib celery, diced
1 small red pepper or 1/2 large red pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 spring onions, white part only, thinly sliced
15 ml or 1 heaped tbsp capers, rinsed
40g or 1/4 cup sultanas
Small handful fresh mint, chopped
Small handful fresh parsley, chopped
15 ml or 1 tbsp tomato paste
15 ml or 1 tbsp sugar
1.5 ml or 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Step 1:
Toast the pine nuts by cooking them in a dry frying pan on medium heat, stirring frequently for 2-3 minutes. The pine nuts have enough oil in them already that adding more isn't necessary. Put aside.

The pine nuts are about halfway done here

Step 2:
Chop your vegetables. Make sure you cut the aubergine last, right before you're about to cook it, as raw cut aubergine starts to go brown when exposed to air for too long.

All chopped!

Step 3:
In a large pan heat a healthy glug of olive oil. Once hot, add the aubergine, stirring frequently. Cook for roughly 5 minutes until aubergine is softened.

Beginning to cook the aubergine

 
Step 4:
Once the aubergine has softened, add another small glug of olive oil to the pan as well as the celery, pepper, spring onions and garlic.

Adding more ingredients to the softened aubergine

Step 5:
Once the peppers, onions, celery, and spring onion begin to sizzle, mix everything in the pan together. Continue to cook for another few minutes, stirring frequently.

Getting closer...

Step 6:
Once all of the vegetables have softened, add the pine nuts, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, sugar, capers, sultanas, mint, parsley, tomato paste, and cinnamon. Continue stirring until all of the ingredients come together. If it seems dry, you can add a few tablespoons of water to help create a sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Just about finished

 Step 7:

Spoon caponata on to thick toasted slices of bread, garnish with parsley and mint leaves, and serve!