This evening I dined on caponata, a Sicilian dish (not dissimilar to ratatouille, except that the Sicilian influence makes for a sweet sour sensation when tasting the dish, rather than the strictly savoury treat that is the sublime dish named ratatouille), accompanied by fillet steak, served rare (and basted, generously, with olive oil while cooking).
Caponata (like ratatouille) is one of those dishes that you need to approach in a relaxed frame of mind; allow hours - (an unrushed afternoon) and you will be amply rewarded, rather than attempting to meet impossible (and delusional) culinary deadlines.
Those lying recipes that tell you that the "prep" takes 15 minutes and that the cooking around thirty minutes, are either lying through their teeth, or, wholly mistaken, or simply - on the time and space continuum - are utterly unable to measure time.
Caponata shares the need for aubergine (eggplant), onions and tomatoes with ratatouille; garlic is an optional extra, an option I choose to exercise, simply because I like garlic.
Where it differs (from ratatouile) is in the additional use of celery, (a key ingredient), capers, and raisins (I used sultanas); it also calls for the use of red wine vinegar, and sugar (or honey). Other ingredients (red peppers, chilli peppers, - even courgettes (zucchini) seem to be subjective, rather than strictly canon).
For this you need a large - i.e. capacious - pan; I used my large and rather robust (and quite heavy) copper (Le Mauviel) pan.
The dish starts with slowly sautéed - finely diced - onions, in olive oil; most recipes suggested two, I used three, two of which were medium sized, because I like onions.
So, two/three finely diced onions, sautéed slowly, until soft, translucent, not yet golden. Then, the finely diced celery (two large sticks - one or two recipes go as far as calling for two heads, which I think excessive), is added to the pan, and stirred. At this stage, I also added a finely chopped red pepper.
And, when that lot were softened, the next ingredient to be added was a head of garlic, already minced. (Garlic isn't canon with this recipe, and, of those recipes that did suggest garlic, some called for two cloves, others four, and one six; anyway, I like garlic, - I almost invariably double whatever quantity a recipe calls for - and, to my way of thinking, given that this is a robust dish, in any case, a minced head of garlic seemed a fine addition).
That was let cook down, and was stirred fairly frequently to ensure it didn't stick to the pan.
And I also added a very finely diced chilli pepper, a small one, seeds and ribs removed. A hint of heat is what is required, nothing more.
Some recipes call for the aubergines (eggplant) to be sautéed - by itself - initially, then removed from the pan, and set aside, to be returned to the pan later; two that I read suggested that it be roasted, first, instead.
So, roasting it was; two fine, fat aubergines (eggplant) were cut into small chunks, drizzled (aubergines take the concept of greed to a whole new dimension when they are introduced to olive oil) generously with olive oil, and placed in a preheated oven; they were taken out and stirred and mixed around twice while being roasted.
Accompanying them (my tweak, but it is winter, and I have yet to meet a tomato in winter that is not improved by roasting) were two dishes of tomatoes - one of cherry tomatoes, the other of large vine tomatoes - both chopped - and drizzled with olive oil.
Some of the recipes for caponata had recommended tinned tomatoes, while several of the others had simply suggested that the tomatoes be sautéed with the other ingredients when it came to their turn to be added to the dish.
Today, I used 'fresh' tomatoes, but I roasted them.
When the aubergines and tomatoes were ready (they were roasting while the onions, celery, red pepper and garlic were slowly sautéed on the stove top), they were removed from the oven and added to the copper pan.
Next to be added were the ingredients that define caponata; capers (a tablespoon, or more to taste), raisins/sultanas (likewise, a generous tablespoon, or more), a dessertspoon of sugar (I used brown), red wine vinegar (a few tablespoons), actual wine - I used about a small half glass of white wine.
That is stirred, and let cook down (most of the liquid will evaporate) on a low heat for around another hour or so.
Caponata can be served hot, lukewarm, cold, and, like any casserole, keeps exceptionally well, and is even better the following day.
Moreover, - in common with ratatouile (another dish I love) - it goes with absolutely everything.
Served with aged (organic, ethically reared) fillet steak (I rarely eat meat in summer, but deepest, darkest winter is another matter entirely), - cooked rare - it was delicious.
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