Caponata, Sicilian Sweet and Sour Eggplant
Caponata is Sicily's sweet-and-sour eggplant relish, a dish built to sit at room temperature and get better as it waits. The balance is everything: raisins for the sweet, vinegar and capers for the sour, tomato and celery holding the middle. The trick to making it without oil is the eggplant, which will soak up any fat you give it, so the cubes roast dry on a sheet pan until soft and browned instead. Rinse the capers hard so they season without oversalting, cook the agrodolce until it turns glossy, and let the whole thing cool before you serve it. Spoon it as a side, an antipasto, or a topping for grains.
Ingredients
- 1 large Eggplant, diced
- 2 stalks Celery, sliced
- 1 Yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 cup Canned crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup Raisins
- 1 tbsp Capers, rinsed hard
- 2 tbsp Red wine vinegar
- 3 tbsp Flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 2 tbsp Almonds, toasted and chopped
Method
- Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Spread the diced eggplant on a parchment-lined pan in one layer and roast 25 minutes, turning once, until soft and browned at the edges. Eggplant drinks up oil, so roasting it dry is how you get it tender and caramelized without a pool of it.
- While it roasts, sweat the onion and celery in a wide pan with a splash of water over medium heat until soft, about 10 minutes. Celery keeps a little bite, which is the texture that sets caponata apart from a plain stew.
- Add the garlic, crushed tomatoes, raisins, and rinsed capers and simmer 10 minutes until thick. Rinse the capers hard first to wash off the brine, so they add their floral pop without much salt.
- Fold in the roasted eggplant and the red wine vinegar and cook 5 minutes more. The vinegar against the sweet raisins is the agrodolce, the sweet-and-sour balance that is the whole idea of caponata, so taste and add a splash more vinegar if it leans too sweet.
- Take it off the heat and let it cool to room temperature, then stir in the parsley and scatter over the toasted almonds. Caponata is meant to be eaten cool, not hot, and a night in the fridge deepens it, so it is one to make ahead.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 125 calories, 4 g protein, 6 g fiber, 90 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
