Eggplant Caponata
Please welcome today a real rich and full taste of the Mediterranean. In our culinary journey we are travelling South, in the beautiful island of Sicily, where everybody is in love with Caponata, a mixed appetizer based on fried eggplants and slow cooked vegetables. You can experiment with any vegetable you love to make your own version, but you will have one only rule to follow… all of your produce should be as fresh as possible!
Don’t have time but still want to try? We have three different kind of Sicilian Caponata available in our online store!
Eggplant Caponata
A real rich and full taste of the Mediterranean
Step 1
Chop the eggplant in small cubes (half an inch) and deep fry them until golden brown and a little crunchy. You can use either extra virgin olive oil or corn oil, you should avoid canola oil or others.
Step 2
Chop all the other produce (celery, onion, capers, tomatoes, olives) in chunks; their dimension does not really matter, because in the cooking time most of them will become soft anyways. In our version we are using Taggiasca Olives and Sundried Tomatoes from the Anfosso line. In a large pot with a layer of extra virgin olive oil add your produce one by one (celery and onion first) and low heat for around two hours and a half. Adjust with a little salt and pepper, and crushed red pepper if you like spicy food.
Step 3
Mix tomato paste, sugar and red wine vinegar all together. Pour the mix in the produce pot, high heat for five minutes. In this version we used Tudia’s tomato paste from the Siccagno tomatoes and Red Wine Vinegar by Trentinaceti, from the heart of the Dolomites.
Step 4
Turn the heat off, add fresh basil and the fried eggplants. Let rest for a few hours, or (even better) overnight. Serve at room temperature.
ENJOY!
Ingredients:
(for 6 people)
2 large eggplants
1 stalk celery
2 golden onions
4 roma tomatoes
½ cup sundried tomatoes
1 cup Taggiasca olives
¼ cup capers
½ cup tomato paste
½ sugar
¼ cup red wine vinegar
Oil, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper to taste
4 oz fresh basil
Suggested products for this recipe
Tudia is an amazing family owned small sicilian company. Since 1964 they do an excellent job with their own grown Siccagno Tomatoes in a lot of different versions, including their extraordinary Caponata.
By Anfosso
The tomatoes are sliced in half, salted and sun-dried, then preserved in “Anfosso” extra virgin olive oil from Ligurian region.
By Anfosso
A unique pleasure, these mild and sweet Taggiasca olives are suspended in extra virgin monocultivar Taggiasca olive oil. The taggiasca olive creates a buttery, light oil that is famous for its delicacy and simplicity. The olives are grown and pressed in Liguria by the Anfosso family, who have been making quintissential Ligurian products using traditional methods of cultivation and production for centuries.
By Ritrovo Selection.
Prepared by Casina Rossa, an aromatic passage in Prosecco wine makes for the perfect balance between sweet and savory in these delicious, artisanal ‘snacking berries’. They are a brilliant accompaniment to meats and poultry, cheese and crackers, antipasti or afternoon snacks, wines, beers, and Martinis.