Sicilian caponata (eggplant with background vocals)

Category: Cold meals and snacks
Kitchen: italian
Sicilian Caponata (eggplant with background vocals)

Ingredients

Eggplant 500 g
Stalked celery 3-4 stems
Pine nuts 2 tbsp. l.
Red onion / leek 2-3 pcs
Tomatoes 500 g
Green olives with bone. or
kalamata olives 120 g
Salted capers 1 tbsp. l.
Marjoram fresh / dry
Olive oil
Wine vinegar / sherry taste
Salt, sugar taste

Cooking method

  • Caponata is a famous Sicilian eggplant stew with a certain set of vegetables and caper olives, very popular during Christmas dinners (although not at all tied to this holiday), and it is important that it can be prepared in advance, for a day or two - by brewing , caponata will become even tastier ...
  • This is really a winter dish, both in terms of food composition and saturation. And since the hot days are behind us, I suggest you try new flavor combinations of your favorite eggplants.
  • 1. Cut the eggplants into cubes 2-3 cm, salt and leave for 1 hour to release excess liquid and bitterness. Then rinse from salt, squeeze, dry with a paper towel (if you have a variety with white, not bitter, pulp, skip this item).
  • Don't try to cut the eggplant into very small pieces, as they will absorb a lot of oil and become too heavy. And in this case, you will not feel either the mild aroma or texture of the eggplant.
  • 2. Then pour olive oil into the pan so that it covers the bottom by about 1 cm.
  • Fry the eggplants in it in small portions over high heat until slightly golden color.
  • Remove with a slotted spoon and put on a dish with a napkin to remove excess oil.
  • 3. Add chopped celery and nuts to the same pan, fry for 3-4 minutes (until browned).
  • Then take everything out to another dish with a napkin.
  • 4. Now add chopped onions to the pan and fry until soft, add the peeled (I miss this moment ) and finely chopped tomatoes. Simmer over very low heat until the sauce thickens.
  • 5. Then return the eggplant and celery with nuts to the pan.
  • Add capers 1 tbsp. l. without a slide, although everything is to your taste, you can have more or less, coarsely chopped olives (recently began to replace Kalamata olives - well, very tasty and less sourness in the dish).
  • And add marjoram. Simmer everything together for 5-10 minutes.
  • Only three years ago I discovered this herb (again all in the same "Crossroads"), first fresh - mmm, and now dried love
  • 6. In the recipe at this stage, you need to adjust the taste with vinegar and sugar.
  • Once again, I confess my dislike for vinegar ... I usually replace it with lemon juice, and I don't like sugar in salty dishes either ...
  • Sicilians are temperamental people and love food with a strong piquant taste, so they can splash vinegar and half a glass ...
  • Sicilian Caponata (eggplant with background vocals) 🔗
  • 7. Refrigerate the caponata for several hours. The more it is infused, the richer the taste will be. And the next day it will be even tastier.
  • And I really want to quote one phrase from the caponata recipe from the Geniuskuk website from Elena and Alfredo:
  • On a note: You can play with the number of ingredients to your liking ... But it's important to remember that eggplants play first fiddle here, celery second and tomatoes third. The rest of the ingredients (olives, capers, pine nuts ...) are backing vocals.
  • My backing vocals are unchanged: marjoram, pine nuts, capers, and if possible, I replace olives with unoxidized Kalamata olives (from the first try I got into eternal captivity! Mmmm)
  • [URL = https: //Mcooker-enn.tomathouse.com/view3/8819223/f180beaaff13e2e5983328137cfafc47/]Sicilian Caponata (eggplant with background vocals)[URL =Sicilian Caponata (eggplant with background vocals) This is an old photo, with green olives (I have a Giant) and leeks instead of regular onions. Delicious too! it's only difficult to photograph such mixtures ... that's why I hid it under the spoiler.


Note

Although initially this dish is Sicilian, it has been cooked in Italy for a long time, like we have borscht - how many regions, cities, and even housewives ... so many varieties. Only a few ingredients are unchanged: eggplant, stalked celery, tomatoes, capers, olives ...
My first one was Sicilian from Geniuscook. And no matter how much I tried others later, this one remained my first love
Although it was the Sicilian flavor - sweet and sour sauce - that I shamelessly ignored ...
Sicily in its culinary has preserved a lot from the Moorish past. Including the love for sweet and sour notes in salty dishes. And the combination of sweet and salty in one dish is exactly what I do not like in oriental cuisines ... That is, I did not even try to "regulate its taste with vinegar and sugar."
It was so incredibly tasty for us ...
Another moment of improvisation - tomatoes and eggplants are usually taken in equal shares of weight, but I love eggplants themselves too much to shade them so much with other vegetables. So I have two times less tomatoes in the photo than what is written in the ingredients - the number depends on their juiciness.
Try, experiment and your version will definitely impress you.
Sicilian Caponata (eggplant with background vocals) 🔗

Surprisingly, in my practice this is just the second eggplant dish, which is so delicious without adding garlic, this indispensable companion of blue ones ... Jamie Oliver, adding garlic to the caponata, in my opinion, simply crossed out the originality of this Italian recipe ... I love garlic. I love eggplant with garlic. But believe me, this is completely unnecessary here.

P.S. Tomatoes can, especially in winter, be replaced with canned delicious tomatoes in sob. juice.
If you use green olives instead of dark olives, adjust the amount to taste. They are more vigorous: the original claimed 250 grams, but for my taste 120 grams. quite enough.

And a little about olives
"Black olives" (olives) are of two types: fruits that ripen directly on the tree and those that got their color artificially. Black olives are a conventional designation, since naturally ripened fruits are rarely completely black. Shades of deep purple, black, reddish brown or brown can be distinguished.
Another type of black olives are the so-called Black oxidized olives - black oxidized olives. In their manufacture, immature green fruits are used, and they receive their deep black color not from natural ripening, but during the oxidation process, which is carried out by enriching the sodium hydroxide solution with oxygen (food additive E524), in which the fruits are soaked to quickly remove natural bitterness. Iron gluconate (food additive E579) is used as a color stabilizer.

Tumanchik
Irisha is delicious, healthy, beautiful!

still impressed by the report on the bean and cabbage pate


thanks for sharing and for the beauty of the vision!
I love marjoram! all my dream is to grow it in a flower pot. it is a pity that it is rarely fresh on sale and not in all markets.

Nagira
Irinka, thank you for your attention!
Is it true, marjoram is a very special herb? It's a pity there is no summer residence ... When I am lucky enough to grab a fresh one, pour the leaves with hot olive oil and into the refrigerator. It's better than dried
Bridge
I love eggplant. Irina, thanks for the recipe. I have never heard of such a dish, I will definitely try it.
Bul
Irina, 👏 I love eggplant, and also without garlic! This recipe is right for us👍! It remains to buy greens and nuts! I will definitely cook it! Thank you!
Marunichka
This is probably my recipe too. I will definitely try and "unsubscribe".
Nagira
Bridge Natasha, Bulia-Julia, Marunichka-Larisa, girls, thanks for your interest!
Before eggplant season is over, give it a try!
Rada-dms
Nagirochka! Thanks for the adorable recipe and execution !! Packed with eggplant, so I hope to repeat it !! And you know how reverent I am about Italian motives! So double thanks to you from us!
lungwort
Nagira, you have another eggplant treat. The tart has already been prepared and this recipe is sure to work! Thank you!
Trishka
Delicious, thanks for the story and recipe, I took it in !!!
Nagira
Rada-dms
Olya, I'm glad that you liked the recipe
I also have Italian eggplant on display, try:
Sicilian Caponata (eggplant with background vocals)

Eggplant Tiramisu Dessert

Sicilian Caponata (eggplant with background vocals)

The latter for the Slavic taste, experimental, will be liked if you like delicate desserts like baked cream or jelly mousses
Rada-dms
Nagira, I will definitely try everything, everything is so interesting, thanks, Nagirochka !!
Nagira
lungwort,
Natasha, how nice it was to read about the tart
Quote: lungwort
you have another eggplant treat.
And these words prompted me to see how many of these recipes I had, it seemed, "one or two and got it wrong" ...
And I had to count until seven, I like eggplants ...

Quote: Rada-dms
Nagira, I will definitely try everything, everything is so interesting, thanks, Nagirochka! !

Olya,
Sicilian Caponata (eggplant with background vocals)

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