It's a relish! It's a sauce! It's a miracle! It's eggplant caponata
This is it. High summer. Local gardens are bursting with produce. There's so much corn, tomatoes and squash around, if you're not eating it, you're bound to trip over it.
And there, if not in your garden then certainly among the fare at the farmers market, are the eggplant. Big ones and little ones. Long, skinny, dark purple ones and fist-size, round, lavender-striped ones. If you're going to eat eggplant, now is the time.
Not a fan, you say? Only like it breaded, fried and layered with red sauce and cheese, and it's too damn hot for that? Bunk, I reply! Now is the time for caponata.
This sweet-and-sour relish that's also a very fine pasta sauce or crostini topper will help convert even the most eggplant averse among us. It opens up great vegetarian possibilities that are rich, filling, and eat like meals.
Caponata also freezes very well, letting you take advantage of the local produce now, but allowing you to enjoy the fruits of your labor throughout the rest of the year.
I recommend that you make yourself a batch, freeze it in two portions, and later, when you can stand the thought of lighting the oven again, make a pan of Quick Polenta Lasagna, but instead of the meat and the jarred sauce, layer in the caponata before baking. The polenta melts into the ricotta and mozzarella, which in turn melts in the caponata for a sweet-and-sour take on an old favorite.
Or heat up the caponata and serve it over a sturdy pasta — rigatoni or penne — with plenty of Parmesan cheese. Add a little bit of the pasta cooking liquid to make the caponata more saucy. Or serve a dollop of caponata at room temperature over broiled white fish or grilled chicken breast. Or how about an eggplant caponata pizza? Yum.
Chef Mario Batale adds thyme and cinnamon to his caponata, with delicious results, especially when piled into a toasted grinder roll and draped with a slice of melted provolone cheese. Dang.
Enjoy!
Jill Blanchette is the multiplatform production manager at The Day. Share comments and recipes with her at j.blanchette@theday.com.
Eggplant Caponata
Makes about 5 cups
¼ cup olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
¼ cup golden raisins
¼ cup pine nuts
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
½-1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ cup tomato paste
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2-4 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggplants (2¼ pounds total), cut into ½-inch cubes
2/3 cup white wine vinegar
Coarse salt
In a 5-quart Dutch oven or other heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add onions, raisins, pine nuts, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, 6-8 minutes.
Add tomato paste, cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons sugar; cook, stirring, until tomato paste is fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Add eggplant, vinegar and 2/3 cup water.
Cover the pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until eggplant is tender and mixture is thick, 7-10 minutes. Season with salt and more sugar as desired. Serve caponata warm or at room temperature.
To freeze: Cool completely, then transfer into zip-top freezer bags, filling the bag only half way. Squeeze out all the air before sealing then freeze the bags flat. Store up to 2 months.
Original recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine.
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