Growing up in the 1960s, ethnic food was not so much a big thing. My mother did a loving job of feeding our family of six and there were some treats I recall. One was a diminutive can of caponata—a smidge of an offering, served on a thin rye krisp, just enough for one or maybe two for whoever wanted one. It felt exotic somehow to eat a food from another place with ingredients that were not part of our typical diet.
Fast forward 50 years, this morning I picked the last chapter of eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, and onions from the garden and our little hoop house, and I knew exactly what I would make!
The word caponata might come from the Catalan word cap-i-pota, or “head and feet,” for when the dish originated, it often had fish— head to tail incorporated. For me it’s a head to tail of what’s left in the garden; it’s uncomplicated and forgiving like any good friend, and warming as the days cool down.
Caponata was born in Sicily, maybe in Jewish kitchens there, certainly at the nexus of Arab, Spanish, Italian, and Greek cuisines. When times were tough, the aubergine, or eggplant, was substituted for fish and that’s where most caponata recipes land today.
I love to serve caponata warm with steaming rice. You can also serve room temperature as an appetizer with some crackers pieces of toast, or some crusty bread. It’s versatile and low maintenance, will store in the fridge a week or in the freezer for as long as you like.
Ingredients:
4 or 5 Italian eggplants, cut into half inch circles or a big eggplant cut into small cubes
One big yellow or red onion or a few small ones
4-5 cloves of garlic
Red, yellow, red and/or green peppers cut into small squares perhaps a ½ inch or so pieces
4 big tomatoes similarly cut or used canned chopped tomato in their own juices.
¼ cup olive oil
Salt & pepper
¼ cup small capers
10-5 olives of your liking, pitted and chopped up, from the deli, from a can or jar, doesn’t much matter.
2 TBSP any kind of vinegar
If you want to add protein, bring I or 1-1 ½ cups of cooked white beans or any beans for that matter. You can boil up yourself or use canned.
I have also been known to cruise my fridge for ingredients that need to be used! You can find last week’s veggies from the grocery store or maybe you have a farm share or a generous neighbor—most any veggie will go in here, probably not potatoes, squash or radishes, but certainly, carrots and celery, and certainly any leafy green.
Oregano, thyme, bay leaf, parsley or any other Italian leaning herb on your window sill or spice rack, fresh or dried work just fine. I am partial to oregano and thyme, which grow all year in our hoop house; I love stripping the business bits off their little stems, the flavor-packed pieces surrendering to the steamy veggies.
Sauté the onions, garlic and peppers in the olive oil until the onions are clear, add the eggplant, let simmer about 10 minutes, then add the tomatoes. Cover and let simmer for another 10 minutes. Then add the capers and olives and the vinegar and spices. Add the beans last. Salt and pepper to taste. You can let this simmer on the stove for any hour or two, the longer it cooks, the more chance for all the flavors to meld. Enjoy!