Eggplant Caponata is one of those dishes that I hope to make every year, if we harvest enough eggplant. That’s not a concern this year, as Ping Tung Long, the Japanese eggplant we grow, have been so fruitful. We’ve harvested peppers, garlic, and celery too, so this dish truly is harvest fare. Tango, the celery we grow, is quite different from the celery you purchase at the supermarket. It’s intensely flavorful and holds it’s shape when you cook it, which is good because the stalks are quite thin. You’d expect them to disappear in the mélange, but they hold their own. Caponata wouldn’t be caponata without celery.
I used to obsessively watch cooking shows on TV – even on those evening when I was just too tired after work to cook. Ina Garten, Ming Tsai, Ellie Krieger, America’s Test Kitchen, Todd English, Tyler Florence, Sara Moulton – back when cooking shows were actually instructive. Don’t get me wrong, I loved watching Iron Chef, but it’s NOT a cooking show. Chopped comes a bit closer to my reality – all of these vegetables coming out of the garden at once – What am I going to do with “this“? But I loved the shows that inform not only what to to do, but how to do it.
Sara Moulton, a protegee of Julia Child, had a cooking show called Sara’s Weeknight Meals, which is where I learned to use the roll cut. The roll cut is useful for long and thin vegetables, like carrots and Japanese eggplant, because it increases the cooking surface. If you’re roasting veg, the cooking surface caramelizes nicely. If you cooking on the stove, the vegetable cooks more quickly and evenly. Rather than slicing straight across, you make your first cut on the diagonal. Then you roll the veg a partial turn, and cut on the bias again. Roll and repeat, and you end up with irregularly shaped pieces that are all similar in size. This technique works well with the eggplant in this Eggplant Caponata.
Caponata
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds Japanese eggplant (about 8 or 9)
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 medium onion
- 2 stalks celery
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 1/2 t salt (divided – 1 t and 1/2 t)
- 1 pound tomatoes
- 1 t sugar
- 3 T capers
- 3 T green olives (about 15)
- 3 T balsamic
- 1/4 cup balsamic glaze (or to taste)
Instructions
- Prep the veg – slice the stem off each eggplant and cut into bite-sized pieces. Slice the celery into a small dice. Chop the onion. Mince the garlic. Chop the peppers, tomatoes, and olives.
- Sauté the onion, celery, peppers, and eggplant – Heat olive oil in a large, heavy- bottomed pan, then sauté the onion and celery until the onions begin to soften. Add the garlic and cook until it's aromatic, about one minute. Then add the chopped peppers and eggplant, and a generous t of salt. Cook until all of the vegetables are beginning to soften and break down, about 20 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, capers and olives – Add the tomatoes to the pan, along with 1/2 t salt and the sugar. Continue cooking until the tomatoes have cooked down and the rest of the dish is beginning to meld, another 8-10 minutes. Turn down the heat to medium and add the capers, olives, and balsamic. Cook for until the eggplant is completely cooked down, 30-40 minutes. You don't want a hint of texture in the eggplant – that's what the celery is for!
- Finish – Once the vegetables have broken down and there's not much liquid left in the pan, give it a taste. I like to add a good glug of balsamic glaze at this point – up to 1/4 cup. You may want to add salt and pepper as well.
This recipe makes a large batch of Eggplant Caponata. Susan and Gene were here and I served the Caponata on sourdough bread. We all heartily enjoyed it, but there was more than enough left to use as a pasta sauce later. If you find yourself with too much Eggplant Caponata, just remember – it freezes quite well!
