Eggplant Caponata Recipe
Vote for Eggplant Caponata!
A Poem about Eggplants:
A funny looking plant
it's a weirder shade at night
its real eggs are scant
but if you cook it right
this purple-colored green
will soak up added bits
making aubergine
a go-to, shady dish!
The Results!
The Ingredients:
Recipe in Rebus:
Cook Time
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ready in: 35 min
Yields: 32 oz
Ingredients
- 1 medium sized eggplant, diced ½ cubes
- 1 red bell pepper, broiled, peeled & diced
- 14 oz can diced tomatoes NS, or equivalent fresh
- ½ cup marinara sauce
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ cup golden raisins, or currants if preferred
- 2 TBSP. sugar
- ½ cup kalamata olives, pitted and diced
- ½ cup capers, drained
- ½ cup toasted pine nuts
- ½ cup shallots, diced
- ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar
- 4-6 cloves garlic
- large handful basil, chopped
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 TBSP. red chili flakes, less if preferred
- baguette, crostini or crusty bread to use as "plate"
How to Do It:
- It's best to prep most of the ingredients before you start mixing the caponata. I save the eggplant dicing until just before its addition to prevent undue browning. Go ahead and slice & seed the red bell pepper. Lie it flat on some foil and broil.
- Once cooked, peel back the blackened skin with a paring knife & discard.
- Chop the pepper into ½ inch chunks, dice the olives, and set aside.
- Remove stems and flowered buds from basil and discard. Chop leaves into large dice & set aside.
- Peel shallots and garlic. Dice shallots into ¼ inch sized chunks, but mince the garlic more finely. Keep these components separate as they are added to the mix at different times. Let's go ahead and start the Caponata mix now:
- Heat the olive oil to sizzling in a medium sized sauce pan. Add the shallots.
- Add the raisins.
- Add the pine nuts.
- Add the chili flakes. Let this cook for 5 minutes, during which time you can prepare the eggplant.
- Cut the eggplant into ½ inch chunks. Add the chunks to the pan and stir.
- Add the capers.
- Add the olives.
- Cover & cook for 5 minutes.
- Push mix over to one side of the pan. Saute garlic in the pooling juice on the pan's other side for 1-2 minutes. Remember, as soon as it sizzles, it is done. Mix the cooked bits into the blend, and--
- Add marinara. Stir.
- Add sugar. Stir.
- Add diced tomatoes and stir.
- Add balsamic. Stir and bring mixture to an easy boil. Cook for 5 minutes, and remove from heat.
- Transfer Caponata to cool serving dish.
- Mix in chopped basil at this juncture.
- Let cool on counter top for at least a half an hour. Chill thereafter, and--
- Top a crusty bread with this yummy, zesty topping!
spoon onto toasted, crusty bread!
