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Italian Cuisine Expert and Food Blogger
Guido Pedrelli
Guido Pedrelli, the mastermind behind Nonna Box, has honed his culinary expertise for decades, inspired by family feasts in Emilia-Romagna. Mentored by his restaurateur nonna, he mastered Italian classics and furthered his skills with professional culinary studies in desserts and gelato making from Mec3. Today, he shares this rich legacy and authentic recipes through Nonna Box.
Eggplant caponata is an Italian appetizer from Sicily made from eggplant and other fried vegetables served at room temperature. Throughout Sicily, there are countless variations of the caponata recipe. Some use octopus and seafood, other pine nuts and golden raisins. Nonna’s recipe has potatoes and bell peppers, which is what I grew up on and is my standard for a delicious caponata.
My favorite way to eat this delicious eggplant dish is by toasting some ciabatta bread slices and piling some caponata on top of each slice. When eaten this way it is like a rich, filling crostini or bruschetta. Caponata can also be served as a side dish to grilled chicken, other meats or even your favorite main fish dishes. While not totally authentic, roasted eggplant caponata can also be used as a pasta sauce with penne pasta and a sprinkling of grated cheese.
Equipment:
Remove the eggplant’s bitter flavor. Place the diced eggplant pieces in a colander over a bowl and sprinkle with salt (photo 1). Let the salted eggplant sit for 20-30 minutes to remove its bitter taste. Rinse with water and transfer the eggplant to a large clean towel (photo 2) and pat the eggplant with paper towels to remove excess moisture.
Prepare the vegetables. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the extra virgin olive oil, toss the potatoes and cook them until golden brown, stirring occasionally (photo 3). Once the potatoes are ready, transfer them to a medium bowl lined with layers of paper towel and set aside. Discard the oil and clean the pan. In the same skillet, add another 5 tablespoons of olive oil and start frying the bell peppers until soft and lightly browned (photo 4). Transfer to the bowl with the potatoes and set aside. Discard the oil and clean the pan.
Fry the eggplant. In the same large skillet add another 5 tablespoons of olive oil and fry the eggplant (photo 5). Watch it while it cooks, as it may need more oil. When it’s soft, transfer the cooked eggplant to the bowl with the other vegetables and set aside. Discard the oil and clean the pan. Return skillet to heat, add olive oil, onions, and celery, and cook, stirring continuously, for about 10 minutes to allow them to caramelize (photo 6).
Cook the sauce and stir everything together. Reduce to medium heat, add tomato sauce, and continue cooking for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir in the olives, vinegar, capers, sugar, and all the veggies and mix together (photo 7). You can add salt and pepper to taste if you haven’t already. Cook slowly for a couple of minutes while mixing gently. Turn off the heat, add the chopped basil (photo 8) and mix and then let it cool to room temperature.
Serve. You can serve this traditional Sicilian dish as a side dish in a large serving bowl with a basket of crusty bread slices of your choosing.
Throughout Sicily, you can encounter close to 40 variations of caponata recipes. However, they all have one thing in common: the sweet and sour sauce in this side dish which gives the vegetables their unique flavor.
Other appetizers to try:
Like most eggplant dishes, you can store caponata in the fridge for up to 3 days in a covered glass or plastic airtight container. Before serving, bring it back to room temperature by removing it from the fridge a few hours before serving.
While originally it was a complete meal served with crusty bread, today eggplant caponata is generally enjoyed as an appetizer or a side dish. Either way it should be eaten at room temperature.
We are not sure about the etymology of the word caponata. Some experts say that it could be related to the Iberian terms capirottata, capirotada or capironades . It also seems closely related to the Latin term caupona, which means tavern, so perhaps to signify it was a “tavern food”. Still others claim that the sailors were the first to use this sweetish sauce to soften their hard pieces of bread, calling it “cappone di galera.”
Still others say that this sweet and sour dish was consumed by Sicilian nobles who served it alongside “capone” (mahi-mahi), a white fish with fine dry meat. While it was normal for the nobles to eat this dish, it was a luxury the rest of the population could not afford. So, peasants replaced the fancy fish with easily found eggplant. The first official mention of authentic caponata dates back to 1759 in a book printed in Messina where it was defined as “a dish made of various things.”
The biggest difference between ratatouille and caponata is that ratatouille usually has garlic and caponata has green olives and capers. Ratatouille often is stewed or sauteed and has less tomato and is presented in a more decorative manner than caponata which has vegetables that are usually fried and a final look that resembles a stew or sauce.
Over the centuries the island of Sicily was dominated by the Greeks, Normans, Carthaginians, Arabs, Spaniards and French. These cultures influenced and enriched the local cuisine and led to so many amazing flavors that we find today.
It is this context that makes traditional Caponata one of the most representative dishes of Sicilian cuisine. The main ingredient is the Italian eggplant, a plant belonging to the Solanaceae or Nightshade family. It is often called a “bad apple” because of the solanine, which is where its bitter, acidic taste comes from. Its origins are not well known. It seems, however, that this vegetable hails from the hot areas of Southern Asia, perhaps from Eastern India or China.
Greeks and Romans weren’t familiar with eggplant until the Arabs brought it to Sicily from North Africa. They introduced it after the conquest of the island beginning in 827. It slowly became an important ingredient in Sicilian cuisine and is used in many recipes.
Another essential ingredient of the Caponata is the tomato. Christopher Columbus brought it to Europe from the Americas a few centuries later. To complete the list of the ingredients we find onions, olives, capers, celery, vinegar and sugar. Although celery was initially used only for ornamental purposes.
The sweet and sour flavor is a fundamental element that characterizes eggplant caponata, and again we owe it to the Arabs. In fact, this peculiar flavor had been central to Arab cuisine since ancient times. It arrived to Sicily thanks to them and became popular on the island.