Sicilian Caponata

I love Gordon Ramsay’s recipes, for me they never fail, perhaps because he never omits an ingredient. So many recipes leave out the seasoning, or are unclear about small details; this can be so frustrating for the home chef.

I have become used to asking the ‘gardener half’ what vegetables I need to use before planning menus, and last night he surprised me by saying “Eggplants” this was a surprise because we have been eating courgettes for months. I thought about Ratatouille, but – you guessed it – I wanted to stay away from courgette, although we still have tons of them. I browsed the web, I thought for a long time about Eggplant Parmigiana but it seemed it should be the star, not the side. I passed the bookshelf and pulled out Ramsay’s Best Menus, and there it was: Sicilian Caponata. (Another good thing about this book – the recipe was under ‘aubergine’; so many cook books index by name rather than main ingredient).

Eggplant or Aubergine? Apparently those of us ‘down under’ use the term eggplant, as do the Americans, while the Brits use aubergine. I think of aubergine as a colour and eggplant as a vegetable – go figure.

I served this as a side with beef casserole and garlic mash.  Gordon served it as a starter with rustic bread. I prepped all the other ingredients while the eggplant was soaking, had a glass of wine and then cooked the caponata, so all up 45 minutes to table (for the caponata).

This was the STAR dish, it is absolutely amazing, I can see how it would be fabulous as a starter with bread.

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Sicilian Caponata

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant aubergine
• 5 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Celery stalks trimmed & chopped
• 1 Red Pepper deseeded & chopped
• 1 Onion peeled & chopped
• 2 Garlic cloves peeled & chopped.
• 5 large Tomatoes
• 2 Tablespoons Caster Sugar
• Sea Salt
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
• Freshly ground Black Pepper
• 100 gm Olives chopped
• 50 gm Capers rinsed
• Handful Basil leaves torn
• 50 gm toasted Pine Nuts

Instructions

1. Cut the eggplant into chunks, place in colander and sprinkle with sea salt, leave for 30 minutes; then rinse and pat dry.
2. Heat the olive oil in a wide, heavy based pan and add eggplant, onion, celery, and red pepper with a little seasoning. Saute over a high heat for 5 minutes.
3. Add chopped tomatoes, (Gordon skins and deseeds the tomatoes), garlic, sugar, vinegar, olives, and capers.
4. Continue cooking over high heat for another 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until eggplant is tender. Check seasoning.
5. Scatter basil and pine nuts over top and serve.