Sicilys Abundant Eggplant-Tomato Bouillon

 31 December 18:00   Sicily s Abundant Eggplant-Tomato Stew

     I ran into a acquaintance yesterday, who tells me that he should be agriculture eggplants from his garden any day now. Of course, this got me cerebration about Caponata, the acclaimed Sicilian eggplant and amazon stew.

    This is a agitating contorno , vegetable course, and aswell a abundant topping for bruschetta , Tuscanys broiled bread. Of advance it s one of the quintessential Italian antipasti too. And if you can airing into your own garden and autumn the vegetables to put it together, Caponata becomes all the added magical.

    Italians accept a accurate affection for le primizie , the aboriginal of the first crop of vegetables. So if you accept admission to a garden either your own or a acquaintance sor if you can get to a acreage stand, now is the time for you to be cerebration about caponata too.

    The compound beneath is excerpted from my first cookbook, "La Cucina dei Poveri."

    My Grandmother s Caponata

    When the garden was in abounding beat during the summer, Noonie (my grandmother) would harvestwell, added accurately, she would absolute Pop (my grandfather) to autumn some eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers for this adorable antipasto that she referred to as Caponatina. My recollections abort as to how she served it, but Im action that it was over a section of Italian aliment that Pop had absurd in olive oil.

    Nowadays, I serve it over bruschetta create from some acceptable Tuscan aliment whichIm blessed to reportseems to be axis up added and added frequently at bazaar bakeries.

    Ingredients:

• 4 Tbs. Olive oil
• 2 Cloves garlic, peeled, and agilely sliced
• 1 Average onion, peeled, and chopped
• 1 Average eggplant (approximately 1 1/4 Lb.) cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 Average alarm peppers
• 1/4 Lb. Blooming olives, pits removed
• 1 Tbs. Capers
• 1 Cup Italian asset tomatoes, almost chopped
• 1/4 Cup sugar
• 1/4Cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 Cup raisins
• 2 Tbs. Beginning mint, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. Red pepper flakes

    Preparation:

    Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat, then add the garlic. Sauté until the garlic just begins to accord off its aromaperhaps a minute or two. Add the onion and sauté for about 5 minutes, until it becomes translucent.

    Add the eggplant and sauté for about 5 account or until it begins to soften, but still has affluence of texture. Add the peppers, olives, and capers and sauté until the peppers become tender. Add the tomatoes and abide affable to absorb the tomatoes with the additional capacity and to activate to anatomy a sauce.

    Add the sugar, overextension it analogously over the pan, then the vinegar, raisins, mint, and red pepper flakes. Activity able-bodied to alloy all the ingredients, then abolish from the heat.

    Italians about serve Caponata at allowance temperature.

    Serves four to six.

    About Author:

    Skip Lombardi is the columnist of two cookbooks: "La Cucina dei Poveri: Recipes from my Sicilian Grandparents," and "Almost Italian: Recipes from America s Little Italys." He has been a Broadway musician, high-school algebraic teacher, software engineer, and a fledgeling blogger. But he has never let any of those pursuits get in the way of his affection for affable and eating. Appointment his Web website to apprentice added about his cookbooks. skiplombardi.com or acquaintance Mr. Lombardi at

     info@skiplombardi.com