Caponata
A dish from Southern Italy/Sicily – eaten warm as a side dish, or a cold antipasto. Savour the rich creamy taste of the auberinges…..
Equipment
- mediteranean casserole or large ovenproof saucepan
Ingredients
- 50 ml olive oil
- 2 large aubergines or 3 medium aubergines, cut into largish chunks – not too large though!
- 1 teasp heaped dried oregano
- 1/2 teasp sea salt
- 1/2 teasp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 medium medium red onions peeled and chopped in slivers
- 50 g a bulb or so of garlic peeled and finely sliced
- 30 g small bunch fresh flat-leaf coriander or parsley roughly chopped (30g)
- 35 g salted capers rinsed, soaked and drained (35g)
- 75 g green olives (handful) stones removed (75g)
- 45 ml/g best-quality herb or white wine vinegar
- 5 large ripe tomatoes roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons slivered almonds lightly toasted, optional
- 1 flat teasp onion powder.
- 1 flat teasp garlic powder
- 1 can (245g) Flageolet Beans
Instructions
- Use firm aubergines, with few seeds (though that is of course difficult to tell without cutting them open! Don’t use too much oil, and cut the aubergines into reasonable sized chunks to avoid adding too much oil.
- Cut the aubergines into chunks and cook in Actifry with one spoon of oil for 12 mins. If you don't have an Actifry you will need to pan fry them separately.
- Meanwhile in Mediterranean casserole pour in a generous amount of olive oil, and place on the heat. Add the onions, and garlic and begin to saute them.
- Add in the oregano with a little salt
- Add in the chopped parsley or coriander.
- When they’re softening a bit, add in the aubergines from the Actifry.
- Continue cooking for another couple of minutes. Feel free to add a little more oil to the pan if you feel it's getting too dry.
- Throw in the drained capers and the olives and drizzle over the herb vinegar. When all the vinegar has evaporated, add the tomatoes and garlic/onion powder and simmer for around 15 minutes or until tender – then in the oven on 150° C for about another 15 or so until the tomatoes have begun to disintegrate a bit.
- Towards the end of the cooking add in the flageolets. This adds substance and protein, but doesn’t interfere with the dishes overall effect.
- Taste before serving and season if you need to with salt, pepper and a little more vinegar. Drizzle with some good olive oil and serve sprinkled with the chopped parsley leaves and the almonds if you like.
Notes
I've veganised the dish, by making it a little more balanced and nutritious with the addition of the flageolets - a very light, and creamy bean that compliments the olives and aubergines perfectly. This means it can now class as a main dish.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!