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Email request: message submitted on 2010-09-08 at 23:31 fullname: Paula Baren: I am looking for a Caponata recipe. Do you offer any? Most people don't even know what it is. Thank you so much. PB

Response: Caponata is commonly made with eggplants (popular in Palermo) but my mother’s family’s version of caponata contains peppers (capsicums) as one of the principal ingredients. Her family come from Catania and this is a local variation in many other parts of Sicily as well.

Sicilians will keep on arguing about which is the true caponata.Some traditional recipes use tomato paste rather than chopped tomatoes. Some add garlic, others chocolate (or cocoa). Many recipes contain nuts – almonds or pine nuts or pistachio, in others herbs are added – sometimes basil, at other times oregano or mint. Certain recipes also include raisins or currants and some, fresh pears. One of my neighbours whose family also comes from Catania adds potatoes to his.

It is now the perfect season for making caponata – the peppers are sweet and the eggplants have not yet developed too many seeds (this is something that happens at the end of their growing season).

I always fry my vegetables separately because vegetables cook at different rates and it is far better to fry or sauté food in batches than crowd the pan.

Traditionally in caponata, the celery is pre-cooked in salted, boiling water before being added to the other ingredients. However, because I like the taste of the crunchy celery I have never pre-cooked it.

INGREDIENTS
1• extra virgin olive oil, 1½ cups (more or less – depending how much the vegetables will absorb)
2• eggplants, 1-2 large, dark skinned variety,
3• peppers, 3, preferably 1 green, 1 red, 1 yellow (variation of colour is mainly for appearance, but the red and yellow ones taste sweeter)
4• onion, 1, large, sliced thinly
5• red tomatoes, 2 medium size, peeled and chopped, or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and a little water
6• capers, ½ cup, salted or in brine
7• green olives, ¾ cup, stoned, chopped
8• celery, 2-3 tender stalks and the pale green leaves (both from the centre of the celery)
9• white, wine vinegar, ½ cup
10• sugar, 2 tablespoons
11• salt and freshly ground pepper

DESCRIPTION:
Cut the eggplant into cubes (approx 30mm) – do not peel. Place the cubes into abundant water with about 1 tablespoon of salt. Leave for about 30 minutes – this will keep the flesh white and the eggplant is said to absorb less oil if soaked previously.

Prepare the capers – if they are the salted variety, ensure they have been rinsed thoroughly and then soaked for about 30 minutes before use, and then rinsed again.

Cut the peppers into slices (approx 20mm) or into rectangular shapes.
Slice the onion.

Slice the celery sticks and the green leaves finely.

Peel, and coarsely chop the tomatoes (or use tomato paste)Drain the eggplants and squeeze them to remove as much water as possible – I use a clean tea towel.

Heat a large frypan over medium heat with ¾ cup of the extra virgin olive oil.

Add eggplant cubes and sauté until soft and golden (about 10-12 minutes). Place the drained eggplants into a large bowl and set aside (all of the vegetables will be added to this same bowl). If you want to, drain the oil from the eggplants back into the same frypan and re-use this oil to fry the next ingredients – the peppers.

Add new oil (to the left-over eggplant oil) plus a little salt and sauté the peppers, until wilted and beginning to turn brown (about 10-12 minutes). Remove the peppers from the pan and drain the oil from the peppers back into the same frypan. Place the peppers in the bowl with the eggplants.

Add a little more oil to the pan and sauté the celery gently for 5-7 minutes, so that it retains some of its crispness (in more traditional recipes, the celery is always boiled until soft before being sautéed). Sprinkle the celery with a little salt while it is cooking.

Remove the celery from the pan and add it to the eggplants and peppers.
Sauté the onion having added a little more oil to the frypan. Add a little salt and cook until translucent.

Add the tomatoes or the tomato paste (with a little water) to the onions, and allow their juice to evaporate. Add the capers and olives. Allow these ingredients to cook gently for 1- 2 minutes.

Empty the contents of the frypan into the bowl with the other cooked vegetables.

For the agro dolce sauce (sweet and sour sauce):
Add the sugar to the frypan (already coated with the caramelised flavours from the vegetables). Heat it very gently until it begins to melt and bubble. Add the vinegar and evaporate.

Incorporate the cooked vegetables into the frypan with the agro dolce sauce.

Add ground pepper, check for salt and add more if necessary. Gently toss all of the ingredients over low heat for 2-3 minutes to blend the flavours.

Remove the caponata from the pan and cool before placing it into one or more containers.

Store in the fridge until ready to use – it will keep well for up to one week and it improves with age.

Email request: May 2nd, 2009 Tom Rota - Toronto: Hello, Most of my Italian relatives have passed away now, and I can only remember some of the things that we used to make in the kitchen. Your web site gives me a flashlight to help illuminate my memory of how we would prepare those dishes. One dish I remember...but I don't know if you want it on your site. My Grandpa called it Frittata, but it wasn't the kind you get in the restaraunt. It is for breakfast. And it is just a way to use the leftover spaghetti. Take the leftover spaghetti and add some eggs to it at the ratio of one egg per two handfulls of pasta and sauce. Beat the eggs into the pasta and sauce. Take a handfull or two (if you have small hands) of the mix and make a thin patty. Put the patty into the frying pan on lowish heat. Flip it before it burns, but not until a crust has formed. Cook the other side untill it has a crust too. Well, it's not bad. I usually end up burning it a bit. Maybe I'm missing something. Anyway, we used to have that for breakfast all the time haha. You wouldn't be from Toronto would you? We used to go visit an Italian family up there that had a restaraunt. We would stay in their house and have a lot of fun :) Cheers, Tom jibeturkeyathotmaildotcom

Response: Hi Tom, It's a tradition in our home to make frittata with the flower of the zucchini plant when it blossoms. Another recipe is grated zucchini and eggs. The recipe ideas are endless. I'll ask my wife to write out all the frittata ideas and I will post them on the site. Thanks for the illumination. Mario - Italian Cook Webmaster

Visitor: (Darrinand Shan) I have seen on cooking shows where cooks will crack a egg into a pasta dish right before serving. What is this called and how do you make it?

Response: Here is the name and recipe. Pasta Carbonara
Enjoy
Mario

1/4 lb. bacon
1 stick (1/4 lb.) butter
1 c. milk
2 tbsp. wine vinegar
1 lb. pasta (fettuccine or linguine)
2 eggs, whipped
1/2 c. fresh Parmesan

Cut the bacon into little pieces and cook in butter until clear. Heat milk in a small saucepan, and add the bacon and butter, add the vinegar; this will turn the milk to cheese. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the sauce cooks smooth.

Boil the pasta al dente. Drain and return to pan. Immediately throw in the eggs, the bacon sauce and cheese. Toss and serve. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Message from Janét Lee (New Orleans - USA): Thank you so much!! I am originally from New Orleans, and my grandmother used to help her neighbor (an immigrant from Sicily at age 13) make Sicilian fig cakes, ammonia cookies, sesame cookies and other baked delights at Christmas and St. Joseph's Day. Grandma never learned the recipe, because "Miss Rosie" had the recipes in her head and in her hands... Nothing was measured. Well, Miss Rosie passed away, Grandma passed away, and now I only rarely encounter Sicilian Christmas cookies on visits home. No one I have asked could give me the recipe, and until now I have never thought to search for one on the Internet. Really I was just searching for the definitive spelling of Cuchidahti! I am SO appreciative of your posting this recipe for all to share. God willing, for St. Joseph's Day I will try my hand at Cuchidahti, and I hope Miss Rosie approves of the final product. THANKS AGAIN!

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