A quick one pot meal that’s perfect for week nights. Great with homemade crusty bread or served with rice or pasta. As a major bread fan, I like it with bread the most! BUT for a super special dish I recommend serving some marinated grilled tempeh on top and garnishing with small leaves of fresh basil. Caponata is a Sicilian aubergine stew like dish, that is kind of sweet and sour tasting and is sometimes used as an appetizer rather than a main meal.
Ingredients:
A good glug of olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 large aubergine, diced into even chunks
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 heaped tbsp tomato paste
a good pinch of sugar
a pinch o’ salt
a pinch o’ cracked black pepper
4 tbsp roughly chopped capers
up to 1/2 cup sliced green olives
1 tbsp currants (optional)
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 cup lightly toasted pine nuts
oregano flowers for garnish (optional)
Method:
Heat the olive oil in pan and add the aubergine, cook for about 4-5 minutes then add the celery and the onion. Saute until the aubergine is tender and the the onion and celery has been softened. Add the garlic and saute for a fe minutes more until fragrant. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar and salt and pepper, cook for another 10 minutes. Stir through the remaining ingredients apart from the oregano flowers and serve, using the flowers to garnish.
Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat™.
Yum!
Presumably you can use fresh tomatoes in place of the tinned ones, right? (We have a host of tomatoes coming from our garden right now!)
Yeap, longer cooking time though. But you could make your own “tinned” tomatoes by filling a small slow cooker with chopped fresh tomatoes and letting them cooke down.
Ooo–that’s a good tip. I always get frustrated with how watery tomatoes are, especially cooked. Don’t know why that never occurred to me before . . . !
Serious yumminess 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Sounds and looks delicious!
Thanks! Olivey things are my favorite 🙂
I had Caponata in Sicily a few months ago & have been meaning to make it ever since … so thanks for the recipe 🙂
I hope you like it 🙂 I sure loved it!
Yum!
Beaut of a dish. I love Aubergine- such a robust texture. Capers and Olives have been a miss from my kitchen recently- time to change that! Thanks love!
Now you’re speaking the language of my ancestors!
I love this dish! ABSOLUELY! My grandfather immigrated from Sicily and I know he would approve. Bellissimo! Apparenza bello! 🙂
MMMMMMM,… I love your version too! It looks very tasty & yummy !
YOU’RE BLOG IS WONDERFUL! I stumbled across it from a comment you’d posted on fat gay vegan’s blog. I’m so happy I did. The photos are so beautiful and I’m eager to try this dish for my husband tomorrow 🙂 keep it up.
Caponata, one of my favorite Italian dishes ever. It reminds me to my childood. Your version does sound divine!
I hope you enjoy it,if you get the chance to make it that is 🙂
I have all the ingredients, so I’m going to make it soon! 🙂