I prepared a light eggplant caponata after reading the fascinating story of the origin of caponata, which is said to date back to the 18th century. When in Sicily aristocrats ate lampuga prepared sweet-and-sour — a prized fish with firm flesh similar to tuna — the common people, unable to afford the expensive meal, replaced the fish with eggplant, creating a similar dish.
I’ve always liked creativity in the kitchen, so I made a lighter version of this historic dish, and I hope Sicilians won’t mind that I didn’t fry the eggplants, because the rest of the recipe follows the regional tradition.
Try the light eggplant caponata but don’t stop there, read and also make my alternative recipe for apple caponata, it will surely surprise you.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 oval violet eggplant
- for the soffritto (1 onion + 1 carrot + 1 stalk of celery)
- 10 cherry or datterino tomatoes
- capers in vinegar (1 teaspoon)
- pine nuts (1 teaspoon)
- to taste green olives in brine
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- white wine (1 glass)
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- to taste fresh basil
- to taste salt
Preparation
Put the olive oil in a saucepan with the soffritto vegetables: carrot, celery and onion finely chopped. Alternatively, you can replace the three vegetables with 2 tablespoons of ready-made soffritto in a jar see the recipe here.
Let the soffritto wilt in the oil and then add the cherry tomatoes cut in half. Sauté them in the saucepan for 10 minutes without crushing them.
Meanwhile, peel the eggplant with a potato peeler and cut it into cubes. Clean the bell pepper and cut it into strips.
Pour the eggplant and bell pepper into the saucepan. Add the capers and the olives. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring.
Then add the wine and the vinegar and let them evaporate for a few minutes. Add the sugar and salt and cover the saucepan with a lid.
Cook the vegetables for the necessary time, about 20–30 minutes.
When cooked, add the pine nuts and fresh basil to the caponata. Turn off the heat and let it rest a few minutes before serving.
