Is there a recipe (or website for recipes) for Italian caponata.?

Question

I've never had it, but an article says it is similar to baba ghanoush.

Answer 1

Italian Eggplant Caponata

Caponata Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, chopped into ¾ inch pieces
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped into small pieces 3-5 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
1 cup homemade Italian tomato sauce.
¼ cup red wine
3 T capers
¼ black olives, chopped
3 T balsamic vinegar
½ t cocoa powder
2 T turbinado sugar
¼ cup fresh chopped basil
Salt and Pepper to taste



Preparation:
Place the eggplant cubes in a colander and apply about 2 T of salt. Shake the colander to coat the eggplant evenly with the salt.

Set the colander in the sink and put a plate inside the colander so it is in direct contact with the eggplant.

Place a weight, such as some heavy canned goods on the plate so the plate will press down on the eggplant. (The purpose is to squeeze some of the sometimes bitter juices out of the eggplant. (About a half an hour process.)

Heat your oven to 375 degrees.

Wipe off the eggplant to remove as much of the salt and clinging juices as you can.

Spread the eggplant on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 35 minutes. The eggplant should be nice and brown by now.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet to medium.

Add the onions and sauté for about 4 minutes.

Add the garlic, black olives and capers and cook another 2-3 minutes.

In a small sauce pan, combine the balsamic vinegar and the sugar. Heat over medium until the sugar dissolves.

Add the balsamic vinegar/sugar and the red wine to the eggplant mixture and reduce the liquid by half.

Add the roasted eggplant, basil and the cocoa powder. Cook a minute or two to combine.

Add the tomato sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. The mixture should be thickened to “dip” consistency.

The caponata is best if refrigerated overnight and brought back to room temperature before serving.

Serve the dip with toasted garlic, pita slices. Garlic toast will suffice in lieu of pita bread.

Caponata is unusual enough, that unless you are decidedly Italian, you may not have ever had it. Now you can.

Note: If eggplant is not your favorite thing, try this with chopped artichoke hearts. Just add the pieces to the onions to start this dish and cook exactly the same way!

Answer 2

Capanata is a tomato sauce with diced eggplant in it. There are a million variations on it. The key for you to make capanata would be to make or buy a tomota sauce that you really like and use that as a base. If you don;t have a favorite, my recipe below will do just fine. I worked in Italian restaurants my whole life and have made this dish a lot of different ways. The way I put in below is the best in my opinion. It can be served cold without the cheese, but I like it warm over garlic bread or on the side of pasta

26 OZ can of tomato sauce
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 chicken Boullion cube (1TBSP of salt will work )
TSP of Black pepper
Small handful od Dry basil
4 OZ of olive oil
Handful of Capers (optional, a lot of people don;t like these)
Handful of Dry Parsley
About 20 Pitted green olives
About 20 Pitted black olives
4 OZ of Sun dried tomatoes
4 OZ of Parma cheese (try to avoid "Kraft"; but fresh if you can)
4 OZ of Motterella
1 large eggplant

Dice the eggplant, olives, and sun dried tomatoes.

Mix the eggplant, oil and sundried tomatoes.
Place on a cookie sheet and put it in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes and then mix it and cook for another 10 minutes.

In the meantime put the tomato sauce and all the seasonings on a skillet and blast it as hot as you can for about a 1/2 hour. STIR CONSTANTLY It will bubble, but this is good. High temperaure is key to good sauce.

When done, just mix the eggplant and the sauce with the parma cheese. Add the motterella and put in the oven for a few more minutes until the cheese is melted.
HAve fun and enjoy

Answer 3

Caponata (Aubergine Salad)

1 pound eggplant, cut into cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 stalks celery, sliced
1 onion, sliced
8 ounces tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons capers
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup large green olives
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Sprinkle cubes of eggplant with salt and leave them in a colander to drain for 1 hour.

Dry them thoroughly on paper towels. Heat plenty of olive oil in a skillet and fry the eggplant until they are brown. Drain on paper towels.

Fry celery in the same oil as the eggplant and, when brown, remove from the pan. Add onion and cook until soft. Add tomatoes and cook gently for 10 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients, return the eggplant and celery to the pan, and simmer another 5 minutes. You may can this or serve it cold after making.

To can, pour into glass jars, seal and boil for 20 minutes. It will keep for months.

Answer 4

Try the website for The Food Network. They have oodles of recipes, I'm sure you will find caponata there.

Answer 5

www.recipewitch.com has several caponata recipes. Use the search facility on the site or look under recipes beginning with 'C' in the recipe browser.

Answer 6

not sure about that recipe but there are a bunch of many recipes

Answer 7

here r a few sites.....
http://www.recipegoldmine.com/worlditalian/italian17.html

http://recipes.epicurean.com/recipe/1680/caponata.html

www.mealsmatter.org

Answer 8

allrecipes.com

Answer 9

recipezaar.com