I made this as part of a menu for a dinner party last weekend. The recipe came from Peter Why via the LibriVox forums but I made some conisderable changes to his original - including skipping a cooking step and substituting anchovies for garlic. The results were raved over and I’ll be making this all summer.
Caponata
serves 12 - 15
2 large onions, cut into bite size pieces
4 bell peppers (2 green, one yellow, 1 red), cut into bite size pieces
2 sprigs fresh thyme, destemmed
5 small Japanese eggplants, cut into bite size pieces
2 stalks celery, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 can pitted black olives, rinsed
2 cans (800gr total) crushed tomatoes
6 anchovy fillets
2 Tblsp capers
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
Saute the onions and peppers in olive oil until the onion turns translucent. Remove from pan and set aside.
Heat about 1/2 cup of oilve oil in the pan, the add the eggplant and saute for about five minutes. The eggplant will soak up the oil completely. This is good. Don’t allow to overcook.
Add the tinned tomatoes, celery, thyme, onion/pepper mixture, olives, anchovies and capers. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes, uncovered.
Stir the sugar into the vinegar and pour into the pan. Mix well and allow to cook another minute or two. The consistency should be “jam-like.”Remove from heat. Allow to cool. Serve at room temperature.
Posted by kuri at June 01, 2006 02:06 PM