Caponata-a Relish You Can't Refuse

[Don Cuevas]

I got inspired by the comida Italiana* next Sunday we're giving for our doctor's charming secretary/receptionist, her husband, who we've not yet met, and their little daughter.

The mercado had nice eggplants yesterday, so I bought 3 and this morning launched into making a large batch of caponata. It's something like ratatouille, but with more spicing, and a sweet-and-sour tomato sauce.

I had a huge amount of celery for it. The celery sold here could be planted to provide a shade hedge around your house. I used one red and two yellow sweet peppers, a small bunch of knob onions, a very big clove of garlic, capers, both green and black olives, a kilo plus of small Roma tomatoes, and seasonings of s&p, fresh basil, dried thyme, sugar, red wine vinegar, a bit of hot paprika, and a few shakes of Thai Fish Sauce( A substitute for anchovies.)

I ended up with 8 pints in all.

Although they are in (mostly) sealed canning jars, I was too sleepy to follow strict canning procedures. Thus, those that we don't give away will be stored in our fridge.

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*Menu: Caponata and toasted baguette rounds
Mixed salad of romaine, grape tomatoes and sweet pepper slivers, basil vinaigrette.
Pan caliente de ajo y queso.
Espaguettis con Albóndigas estilo Napolitana.
Queso estilo Parmesan rallado.
Agua de Jamaica or Horchata.

Our guests are bringing a cake for dessert.

Originally I was going to make pizza, but changed my mind because I want to spend more time with our guests.

[Deleted]

Sounds pretty good to me, in moderation. That means that I would be very upset to be storing a quantity like that in the refrigerator and having to finish it relatively quickly. It's more something I would want to take out of the freezer once a month.

[bixaorellana]

Caponata recipes posted here in The Galley.

This is great stuff, and shouldn't really be classified as a relish, since it's not like chutney or something you'd use to enhance other foods. It can be eaten on its own, and is great on pasta.

[Don Cuevas]

Mar 20, 2009 18:22:14 GMT bixaorellana said:

Caponata recipes posted here in The Galley.

This is great stuff, and shouldn't really be classified as a relish, since it's not like chutney or something you'd use to enhance other foods. It can be eaten on its own, and is great on pasta.

Doña Cuevas is about to taste test the caponata. It's better if cooled overnight.

I'll be transferring it to suitable freezer containers, K2, as soon as space is freed up. At the moment, all the jars are in the back of the fridge.

Thanks for the caponata recipes, Bixa. This way, I don't have to type it up. (Anyway, I rarely follow a recipe exactly as written. They are just general outlines for my whims.)

[lagatta]

You can clearly see the Maghrebi side of Sicilian cooking in caponata - it is similar to many of the "salades cuites" my Moroccan friends make. The version I have includes plumped raisins as well:

gr 500 di melanzane
un dl di olio di oliva
2 cuori di sedano tagliati ad asticciole
una cipolla affettata sottile
gr 300 di pomodori pelati freschi o in scatola
un cucchiao di zucchero
mezzo bicchiere di aceto
2 cucchiai di capperi
una cucchiaiatadi pinoli e una di uvetta ammolata
una manciata di olive nere snocciolate
sale - pepe

They do peel the tomatoes. There are no anchovies, though I've also had variations with anchovies. My version is from "Il Grande Manuale della Cucina regionale", a classic, my copy utterly falling apart.

This does surprise me, Don Cuevas: Espaguettis con Albóndigas estilo Napolitana. I don't think of spaghetti and meatballs ("polpette" in Italian) as being an authentic Neapolitan dish. Isn't it more a Neapolitan-Norteamericano invention? (no less authentic as such).

I certainly have recipes from Campania for polpette, but normally they would be served after the primo piatto.

Though personally I don't think I've ever eaten a meat dish in Naples as the vegetable dishes - and obviously the pizza - are out of this world. And cheap - I was visiting while studying in Italy, so very low budget.

[bixaorellana]

Wonderful point about the Maghrebi influence, Lagatta! I imagine you have Pomp and Sustenance in your cookbook collection.* Mary Simeti walks the reader through caponata and its variations, one of which includes cocoa, which she calls "a very baroque, Spanish touch". In "Many Beautiful Things", Vincent Schiavelli says that the cocoa was introduced into caponata in the 18th century. He also says that Arab traders brought eggplant to Sicily a millennium ago, and refers to present-day capunatina being "scooped up with bread, Moroccan-style".

*I just posted Simeti's caponata recipe in the caponatina thread in The Galley.