Caponata (Sicilian Eggplant and Vegetables)
Serves 2 Time 60 minutes Difficulty 2/5 Ingredients 13 Steps 9
Caponata is a Sicilian eggplant dish consisting of cooked vegetables with chopped up fried eggplant, celery, sweetened vinegar, and capers with sweet sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ pounds (1 kg) eggplant (aubergine)
- ½ pound (225 g) green olives packed in brine, pitted
- 6 ounces (170 g) salted capers, rinsed
- 1 ¼ (570 g) pounds celery ribs
- 1 cup tomato sauce (optional)
- ⅔ pound (300 g) onions
- ⅔ pound (300 g) tomatoes
- ⅓ cup vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Basil
- ⅜ cup pine nuts
- Olive oil
- Salt
Steps
- Strip filaments from celery sticks. Blanch in lightly salted water 5 min. Drain. Cut into bite-size pieces. Sauté in a little oil. Set aside.
- Wash and dice eggplant. Strain. Sprinkle liberally with salt. Sit several hours.
- Blanch, peel, seed and chop tomatoes.
- Rinse salt from eggplant. Pat dry.
- Slice onion finely. Sauté in olive oil until translucent. Add capers, pine nuts, olives and tomatoes. Cook, stirring with wooden spoon, about 15 min until tomatoes are done. Remove pot from heat.
- Heat another pan of oil. Fry eggplant in batches to keep frying temperature up.
- Return tomato pot to heat. Stir in eggplant and sautéed celery. Cook several minutes over low flame, stirring gently.
- Stir in vinegar and sugar. When vinegar has almost completely evaporated, remove from heat. Cool.
- Serve cold, garnished with fresh basil. Keeps several days in refrigerator.
Notes from the original
- You can serve this on toast as an appetizer, as a side dish, or as a main dish for a light meal.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Caponata (Sicilian Eggplant and Vegetables)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-12, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Sicilian caponata.jpg by Massimoweb, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.