Caponata with eggplant and nocellara olives
4 servings
30 minutes
Caponata is a dish with ancient roots, with different variations of it prepared all over the Mediterranean, but the best caponata is in Sicily. Although the name itself is Spanish, it means "tied in a knot". Italian Mirko Zago ties different-sized vegetables into a single whole with the help of a sauce in which the tomato acidity is balanced by sugar, vinegar and basil. Eggplants play a kind of meat role in caponata, giving satiety to this strictly vegetarian stew. If you do n't have any olives of the "nocellara" variety on hand, they can be replaced with any large green olives of good salting.
1
Pour half of the olive oil into a large pot for stewing and place it on the heat. Slice the onion into thin half-rings, crush and chop the garlic, and cut the eggplants into 2 cm sticks.
- Olive oil: 4 tablespoons
- Onion: 1 piece
- Eggplant: 2 pieces
2
Sauté onion and garlic in oil for 1 minute, then add eggplants and a pinch of salt. Fry the eggplants on all sides until golden brown, add tomatoes, break them into pieces with a spoon, reduce the heat and cook until the eggplants are half-cooked (they should be soft but not fully cooked) for 15 minutes.
- Onion: 1 piece
- Olive oil: 4 tablespoons
- Eggplant: 2 pieces
- Salt: 1 teaspoon
- Tomatoes in their own juice: 100 g
3
Lay out the zucchini cut into cubes like the eggplant and the bell peppers cut into 'slices' of both colors, add the remaining olive oil. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- Baby courgettes: 1 piece
- Red sweet pepper: 1 piece
- Yellow sweet pepper: 1 piece
- Olive oil: 4 tablespoons
4
Add olives, season with salt, sugar, and pepper. Cover and simmer on low heat until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Stir the vegetables in the pan and remove from heat. Let cool.
- Green olives: 100 g
- Salt: 1 teaspoon
- Sugar: 1 tablespoon
5
Sprinkle the plate with tarragon vinegar, arrange the vegetables, and serve.
- Tarragon vinegar: 1 tablespoon