Caponata Siciliana
Sweet and sour eggplant agrodolce — the great Sicilian condiment. Serve warm, cold, on bruschetta or beside grilled fish.
Ingredients
- 2large eggplants
- 4 stalkscelery
- 1white onion
- 200ggreen olives
- 3 tbspcapers
- 3 tbspred wine vinegar
- 2 tbspsugar
- 400gcrushed tomatoes
Method
Salt and drain eggplant cubes for 30 minutes. Fry until golden.
Blanch celery. Sauté onion until translucent.
Add tomatoes, cook 10 minutes. Add olives, capers, celery.
Dissolve sugar in vinegar. Pour agrodolce over vegetables.
Simmer 15 minutes. Cool completely — better the next day.
Frequently asked
What is caponata made of?
Fried aubergine, celery, onion, tomato, capers and green olives, brought together in an agrodolce of vinegar and sugar. Everything is cooked separately before it is combined, which is why the vegetables keep their own texture instead of collapsing into one.
Is caponata served hot or cold?
Room temperature, and ideally a day later. Warm caponata tastes sharp because the vinegar has not yet settled into the sugar and the aubergine. Sicilians make it in advance on purpose.
What is the difference between caponata and ratatouille?
The agrodolce. Ratatouille is vegetables stewed in olive oil and herbs; caponata is balanced sweet-and-sour with vinegar, sugar, capers and olives, and the vegetables are fried separately rather than stewed together.
Learn to make Caponata Siciliana with Chef Gabriele
A recipe gets you most of the way there. The rest is in the hands — how the dough should feel, when to stop working it, what the pan should sound like. Chef Gabriele teaches the arancini and street food classin Leichhardt, Sydney's Little Italy, in small groups where everyone cooks.
