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Caponata, a wonderful dish from southern Italy made with a lovely assortment of fresh vegetables, including eggplant. Serve warm or cold, Caponata is perfect as a salad or an appetizer.
Caponata is basically a Sicilian eggplant salad. It’s a mixture of eggplant, onions, celery, tomatoes, olives and capers and it’s absolutely wonderful. If you like eggplant, you will love this dish. It reminds me of slightly sweet version of ratatouille.
One thing I love about this particular recipe is that the eggplant is roasted in the oven, instead of fried or sautéed. It’s seasoned simply with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
While the eggplant is roasting, I sauté chopped onions, celery and garlic in a pan then add in kalamata olives, capers, a can of plum tomatoes, a little sugar and a splash of white wine vinegar. As the caponata simmers your kitchen begins to fill with the incredible aroma of fresh, seasoned vegetables cooking. Towards the end of the cooking process, I add in the roasted eggplant which absorbs all of the glorious flavors from the dish.
You can serve caponata warm over toasted slices of a baguette or with a sort of flatbread. I prefer to eat it cold or at room temperature. It’s lovely when paired with chicken or fish. Caponata is can be made a day in advance and kept in the fridge where the flavors will deepen further.
As for a wine pairing, I mostly enjoy reds and find that you will need a hearty wine to stand up to the deep flavors in the caponata. A Pinot Noir would be ideal.
Caponata
Ingredients
- 2 inch small or 1 large eggplant, peeled and cut into 1- cubes (about 6 cups total)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil (plus 1 tablespoon for the pan)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 inch ribs celery, cut into 1/2- dice
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup kalamata olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
- 1/3 cup capers, drained
- 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
- 15 ounce can whole tomatoes with juice, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Place eggplant on a rimmed baking sheet; drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix together and spread eggplant out in an even layer.
- Place the tray in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a heavy skillet over moderately high heat.
- Add the chopped onion to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally until translucent, about 6 to 8 minutes.
- Add the celery and garlic and cook, stirring for another 6 minutes.
- Add the olives, capers and sugar and cook, stirring, 2 minutes.
- Stir in the vinegar and tomatoes and bring to a boil, stirring often.
- Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes.
- Stir in the roasted eggplant and cook for 5 minutes more.
- Remove pan from the heat and let cool. Transfer the caponata to a serving bowl. Serve immediately or refrigerate to use the next day.
I’ve never tried this dish before, but I love eggplant! Adding this to my must make list!
Serene, if you like eggplant, I bet you’ll love this dish.
What a gorgeous serving of veggies! Love that you take the time to learn the stories of the characters. 🙂
Thank you, Kimberly Ann.
This looks so amazing! I definitely want to eat this.
My husband loves eggplant and I’m always looking for new ways to use it. This dish is one I’ll have to try for him!
My husband loves eggplant too and I can’t make this dish often enough for him 🙂
I’d never heard of this dish but I’m glad I have now. Looks great!
I’ve never tried this dish but it looks simply amazing! Love me some eggplant and I don’t cook with it nearly enough.
I’ve never had Caponata. . . and this looks absolutely amazing!!!!
I LOVE eggplant, and finding this recipe on your blog today makes me so happy! I cannot wait to make it!! Thanks 🙂
Delicious!!!! This looks amazing
I love caponata and have a version that I’ve been making for years. But yours, with roasted eggplant, is intriguing and I’m thinking of doing a mash-up of your recipe and mine. Any which way, caponata is delightful – and with pinto noir, just perfect.