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Eggplant is a shy vegetable that shines when paired with bold flavors like garlic, capers, and onions in dishes like Sicilian caponata. Recipes vary in technique and ingredients, but all include eggplant, garlic, and vinegar, and benefit from an overnight rest before serving.
All in all a loner, Eggplant is a rather shy boy without much to say. Like shy people everywhere, though, place an eggplant anywhere near a food with big personality, like garlic, capers, or onions, and watch the eggplant quietly soak up the style points. The eggplant parmesan, Greek moussaka and Mediterranean baba ganoush are a delight, but the Sicilian caponata really rocks the boat with a powerhouse of flavor and a million ways to make it.
The one thing that all eggplant caponata recipes share is eggplant, garlic and vinegar, most often red wine vinegar. Some cooks toss a few stewed tomatoes, while others insist on warm sun-kissed ones from the garden. Some cooks, surprisingly enough, shrug and say tomatoes are a frill and not essential to the dish at all.
Cooks who consider themselves eggplant queens or kings probably insist that diced eggplants need to be salted, weighted, and drained of the bitter juices hiding inside. Others insist it’s unnecessary, given the festival of flavor other foods bring to the bowl. Some cooks start eggplant caponata by frying diced eggplant in lots of oil, while others view such high-calorie practices with suspicion and spray them with cooking spray first. Still other cooks lightly coat the eggplant in fat and roast it with garlic until it is transformed.
Once the caponata has been assembled, combining roasted or sauteed eggplant and tomatoes or raw minced garlic and perhaps a small red onion or green olives, and added high notes with a splash or two of wine vinegar and some capers, it is time to unleash your creativity. Toasted pine nuts or almonds add a crunch and a few water-filled golden raisins will deepen the yum for some. More traditional chopped parsley, can be replaced by basil, cilantro or another fresh herb.
Most eggplant caponata recipes insist that the flavors must consummate their group marriage overnight and that the dish must be brought to room temperature before serving. While skipping the first point will result in a caponata of aubergines in vinegar, the second point is the poppy. Caponata served as an appetizer on bruschetta is best if it’s not too cold, but caponata served warm over quinoa or rice and sprinkled with ricotta salata is a delight. Cold caponata stuffed into a lunchtime pita, slathered on a green salad, or eaten as a chunky summer soup is also fabulous.
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