📋Sicilian Vegetable Caponata Recipe With Eggplants
Sicilian vegetable Caponata is a traditional sweet and sour recipe, made with all produce grown locally: peppers, eggplants, celery, capers, basil, nuts, and raisins. It is served as an appetizer on bruschetta or as a side dish for grilled meat. It is easy to make and best if made ahead of time. The eggplants absorb all the flavors and the Caponata will taste even better the following days.
Servings 4 people
Calories 576kcal
Ingredients
- 3 eggplants
- 3 red, green and yellow peppers
- 1 cup pitted black olives
- 1 onion
- 1 stalk stalk of celery
- ⅓ cup raisin
- ⅓ cup pine nuts
- ⅓ cup almond
- 2 tablespoon capers
- 1 ¾ cup homemade tomato sauce
- ⅔ cup vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 sprig fresh basil leaves
- 6 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil abundant
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Clean and peel the eggplants and cut them into cubes3 eggplants
- Wash the peppers, remove the centre and the seeds and cut the peppers into cubes3 red, green and yellow peppers
- Fry the eggplants in a pan with abundant olive oil6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Once golden remove and let them dry on a kitchen paper towel so the towel will absorb the oil
- In the same oil, fry the peppers
- Once cooked remove from the pan and put them aside
- In another pan pour 6 tablespoon of olive oil and cook the sliced onion2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 onion
- Once translucent, add the chopped stalk of celery1 stalk stalk of celery
- Add the capers, raisins, pinenuts, almonds pistaches, and olives. Stir fry at medium heat⅓ cup raisin, ⅓ cup pine nuts, ⅓ cup almond, 2 tbsp capers, 1 cup pitted black olives
- Once it is all nicely browned add the tomato sauce and the chopped basil leaves1 ¾ cup homemade tomato sauce, 1 sprig fresh basil leaves
- Season with salt and pepper and let it simmer for few minutessalt & pepper
- Dissolve the sugar into the vinegar and pour over the sauce⅔ cup vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar
- Slowly add the eggplants and the peppers
- Stir for few minutes and transfer on a serving dish
- To serve, let it cool down completely. Even better the next day
Video
Notes
- Make the caponata 1 or 2 days ahead of time, the more time it rests, the more the ingredients amalgamize their flavours
- Use capers preserved in salt, they have a much better flavour
- All nuts should be of good quality
- You can use white or red vinegar, but if you use balsamic do not add the sugar
- Make sure you absorb the oil from the fried eggplants and peppers otherwise, otherwise, the dish is too oily
- Buy small and long eggplants making sure they are not full of seeds.
Nutrition
Calories: 576kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 40g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Sodium: 1229mg | Potassium: 1628mg | Fiber: 18g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 1075IU | Vitamin C: 89.8mg | Calcium: 119mg | Iron: 4mg
