Serves 2 / Difficulty – Easy / Prep 40 mins
Apparently there are 37 varieties of Caponata in Sicily alone which is where the recipe originates – so I don’t mind cheating with the tomatoes which is why I call this ‘Quick Caponata’ as you don’t have the cook and peel them. This is a great sweet and sour side dish which you can serve with meats and fish or simply spread on toasted bread as a bruschetta.
Ingredients
Aubergine 1 kg
Celery 400 g
White onions 250 g
Tinned chopped tomatoes (I recommend Mutti) 200 g
Green olives in brine to be pitted 200 g
Salted capers desalted 50 g
Pine nuts 50 g
Sugar 60 g
White wine vinegar 60 g
Basil to taste
Tomato paste 40 g
Extra virgin olive oil to taste
Method
Heat an oven to 200c. Wash and dry the aubergines, trim them and then cut them into pieces of about 2.5 cm. Put oven in the pan, pour over a generous amount of olive oil, add some salt and cook for 25 minutes in the oven, turning once half way through.
Heat a frying pan and toast the pine nuts here for a few minutes.
Peel and chop the onion and the celery.
In a large pan pour a generous glug of olive oil, heat it and then add the onion. Sauté well until the onion is opaque, then add the celery and soften. Then add the olives, then the toasted pine nuts, capers and tomatoes. Turn down the heat, cover with a lid and let cook while you prep your sauce.
Pour the vinegar, sugar and tomato paste into a jug. Mix well, add the salt and pour into your pan, turn the heat up and cook until you can no longer smell the vinegar. Turn off the heat, add the aubergines.
Add some chopped basil, mix everything well, then add into a baking dish and let cool, then place into the fridge.
Serve at room temperature.
Caponata should last in the fridge for about 3 days.
