Cooking caponata

I’ve always thought of caponata more as an appetizer, but Quick Vegetarian Pleasures describes it as a ‘cold Sicilian eggplant salad.’ No matter what you call it, it’s delicious, and I figured it was high time for me to learn how to make it. Besides, my diet contains entirely too few capers these days.

I’m too lazy to type out the recipe I used, but it’s not dissimilar from the many other caponata recipes floating around (like this one). Of course I tweaked the recipe a bit, anyway (I’m a compulsive tweaker): I used less than half of the sugar, and I didn’t peel the eggplant. Isn’t the peel where all the vitamins are? I also didn’t bother to salt and drain the eggplant (my recipe didn’t call for it – the book is called Quick Vegetarian Pleasures, after all).

Anyway, the result was pretty good (if not particularly photogenic). Caponata is pretty intense in flavor, so it goes well on crostini or accompanied by something else with a mild flavor (such as fresh mozzarella).

I submitted this post to the upcoming Weekend Cookbook Challenge, since this month’s theme is salad. Check the link after March 5th to see a round-up of lots of fun salad recipes. I’m looking forward to finding some new inspiration for my daily lunch salad.