Italian Recipe

Caponata

Sicily’s sweet-and-sour eggplant relish: fried eggplant folded into a celery, olive, and caper agrodolce that needs a night’s rest to become itself.

Sicily’s sweet-and-sour eggplant relish: fried eggplant folded into a celery, olive, and caper agrodolce that needs a night’s rest to become itself.

40 min Prep Time

45 min Cook Time

6 Servings

medium

Instructions

Salt the eggplant cubes 30 minutes; rinse and dry hard.
35 min
Fry the eggplant in 170 C oil in batches until bronzed and creamy inside; drain on a rack.
18 min
In a wide pan, soften the onion in olive oil; add the blanched celery for 3 minutes, then olives and capers.
8 min
Add the passata and simmer 8 minutes. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar, pour it in, and cook 3 to 4 minutes more, until the raw edge lifts but the tang remains.
13 min
Fold in the eggplant gently, just to coat; it should stay in proud cubes. Tear in the basil and kill the heat.
3 min
Cool completely, then rest covered overnight in the refrigerator. Serve at room temperature with bread or alongside anything from the grill.
15 min

Chef's Tips

Cook the vinegar just enough: Raw vinegar tastes like an accident; boiled-away vinegar deletes the dish. Three minutes after it hits the pan, taste: it should pinch, then smile.
Eggplant goes in last: Folded in early it drinks the sauce and collapses. Last-minute folding keeps each cube a separate small luxury.
Palermo crowns special-occasion caponata with toasted almonds or pine nuts and even grated chocolate at Christmas; the weekday jar needs none of it.

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 358.13
Protein: 3.26g
Carbohydrates: 21.82g
Fat: 30.35g
Fiber: 7.44g

Per serving

More delicious Italian recipes to try

View all recipes

Fileja alla nduja piled on a rustic plate, hand-rolled spirals in glowing brick red sauce with pecorino and basil, Tropea cliffs and sunset sea beyond.

Recipe

Fileja alla ’Nduja

Calabria’s rod-rolled pasta in a sauce of melting ’nduja: Spilinga’s fiery spreadable salume dissolved into tomatoes until the heat glows instead of burns.

50 min prep

Tintoretto, a classic Italian cocktail

Cocktails

Tintoretto

A winter Bellini variation using tart pomegranate juice and Prosecco.

5 min prep

Fonduta valdostana in an earthenware pot by a window, a crust of bread lifting long ribbons of molten Fontina, torn loaf waiting on the board.

Recipe

Fonduta Valdostana

The Aosta Valley’s molten Fontina cream, thickened with yolks rather than starch, served hot with bread or spooned over polenta.

15 min prep

Cavatelli al ragu di maiale in a dotted bowl, hand-curled shells in brick red sauce under a glossy braised rib, pecorino at the window.

Recipe

Cavatelli al Ragù di Maiale

Molise’s two-finger pasta in a pork rib ragù that simmers until the meat surrenders. The region Italy forgets makes the Sunday sauce it shouldn’t.

60 min prep

Ribollita in a rustic ceramic bowl, thick with cavolo nero, cannellini and torn bread under a ring of olive oil, crumbs and a worn spoon beside.

Recipe

Ribollita

Tuscany’s twice-cooked bread and vegetable soup, thick enough to eat with a fork: cavolo nero, cannellini beans, and stale bread reboiled into something far greater than its parts.

30 min prep

Americano, a classic Italian cocktail

Cocktails

Classic Americano

The precursor to the Negroni. A refreshing blend of Campari, sweet vermouth, and soda water.

3 min prep