Gourmet Italian Recipes: Caponata

Recipe

Side

Caponata

By FDL

These sweet and sour marinated vegetables have Sicilian origins. Serve as a side dish or slather on some thick crusty Italian bread.

Ingredients

Tomato sauce 280 ml
Green olives 200 g
Celery heart 1
Capers, rinsed 35 ml
Aubergines 8
Vinegar 35 ml
Sugar 35 ml
Toasted almonds 100 g
Oil for frying
Extra-virgin olive oil 60 ml

Info box

Preparation time 30 m
Cooking time 40 m
Recipe category Side
Recipe yield 6
Recipe cuisine Italian

Preparation

Cut the aubergines into cubes and leave them for an hour on a tray, covered with coarse salt. Heat the oil in a pan and fry them well, then drain over a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

Dice the celery and boil it for 4 minutes to make it more tender.

In a separate pan, in a bit of olive oil, sauté the olives (without pits) together with the capers and celery. Add the tomato sauce, vinegar and sugar. Then add the fried eggplant and let it absorb the flavours for a few minutes over a very low flame. Give the pan a shake from time to time so that nothing sticks to the bottom.

Heat the oven and toast the almonds for about 5 minutes. Check salt and add more if needed.

Serve the caponata cold, covered with the slivered almonds. It’s also delicious at room temperature and it’s even better the next day.

Wine pairing: Trentino Müller-Thurgau