Caponata

I am not Sicilian so this is simply my version of it. Delicious served at room temperature

We’ve had a few sunny days, so it put me in mind of sunny food. Um, I’m going to make a capanata. The recipe is on my website, so I’m looking at my computer because I’m looking at my recipe. Um, it’s very much a summer dish. It’s a Sicilian dish. I think lots of families in Sicily all make it their own way. Um, I’m slightly changing my uh recipe that’s online today. I’m just going to add uh some grated dark chocolate to it because I’m interested to see how it turns out. Annadel Conti um does that. So, first the first thing you’re going to want to do is you’re going to want about three um uh oberines, cut them into sort of cubes that sort of size. That’s about 2 cm. Salt them. The easiest way to do that is put a put a layer in in the colander, salt them, put another layer on, salt them. And you want to leave those for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, tip them out of the colander onto some kitchen paper and pat them dry. While that’s happening, you can get all of your other ingredients ready. You’re going to need some onion, some celery. Uh you’re going to need some uh tinned plum tomatoes. So, I’ve actually taken the tomatoes out of the tin and the tomatoes I’ve chopped, but I’ve also kept um the the tomato sauce. I guess it’s it’s like pata. Um you’re going to want some olives, some capers. You can use red or white wine vinegar. Um I’m going to finish. Oh, we’re going to use some chili. Uh, got 70% chocolate. This is an experiment. We’ll see how it turns out. And then I’m going to finish mine with um some toasted almonds. The thing with a capanata is it’s it’s the morning. It’s it’s early morning here. You need to make it ideally the day before or a good few hours before you eat it. It um it’s best to eat it at room temperature and it will keep for a couple of days. It’s gorgeous on bruschetta. Uh, so I’m or or uh just some crunchy bread. Maybe it’s too early for me to do this. I absolutely hate frying. So, um, I don’t cook this very often and it is a labor of love because with oines you have to fry them to get them nice and brown. You’ll probably have to do it in batches. I’ve put about 2 cm of vegetable oil in this pan. Um, I have patted dry the oberine and I now just want to brown them on all sides. Once they’re brown on all sides, I will take them out uh and drain them on kitchen paper. It’s worth the effort to brown them. Look at that. Lovely golden. And then just take a little bit of salt and lightly salt them. Back in the pan, I’ve got the two celery sticks that have been cut into 2 cm ice. Uh, and I am just going to do the same. Just get them colored and then take them out and drain them on kitchen paper. In a pan over a low heat, gently warm about 50 mil of um, good quality olive oil, not extra virgin. And drop in your sliced onions. It’s one onion sliced with a little sprinkle of salt. and cook them for about 10 minutes until soft. Make sure you keep the light low. You don’t want to color the onions. Onions are soft. So, the chopped tomatoes are going in with their collected juices. Those little bits there. Chili flakes. I’m going to do a generous pinch of chili flakes. I love the heat. Oh, crap. I’m going to have to clear up those chili flakes. They’re all piled up there. Um, cook the tomato and onion with the chili flakes for 10 minutes on a low heat. Next things to go in, I’ve got about 50 gram of uh green olives. I was very lazy today. I couldn’t be bothered to chop them, so I’ve literally torn them in half. 50 gram of um capers. All of that can go in. 90 mil of red or white vinegar. Wine vinegar. Red or white wine vinegar. Sorry. Uh, next goes in all of the collected juices. Uh, if you don’t have if you don’t use one that’s got lots of juices, you need about 100 mil of um of pata. A tablespoon of sugar. That will counteract the vinegar and sugar just loves tomatoes. And just bring that to a simmer. Oh. Uh, and also I forgot I’m adding this time. I’ve had a little nibble. Oh, no. That’s [Music] This is a perfect example of just a very disorganized day cooking. Um, I’m going to grate about a tablespoon of chocolate. Uh, it’s 70% dark chocolate. You don’t have to watch me grate it. That’s come to a simmer. I’m going to probably make a mess. Pushing this all in. I’ve decided after I finish cooking. You’re adding in all There we go. On the floor. And another one. I’m gonna take the rest of that bar of chocolate and go and sit in a dark room and not come out until the end of the day. Um, oh god, I haven’t even got a dog anymore to come and eat all this stuff off the floor. Give it a good stir, put a lid on it, drop it down to the lowest light, and leave it to simmer for an hour. But check it every so often to make sure it’s not drying out. And if it is drying out, um, just add a splash of water from a freshly boiled kettle. Okay. Um, after that hour, I’m going to leave it all day so it gets down to room temperature. So you next time you see me, I might be a little bit pissed after the day. I might Oh, it’s not the BBC. I can swear. Sorry. I just have to say I’ve eaten more than I’ve grated. And here’s the finished dish. It’s Oops. Oh god, I’m asking for trouble eating this in white, but you can see it’s lovely and mushy. Um, it’s at room temperature. I’ve got some bread in the oven that’s toasting with olive oil. I’m just going to sprinkle these lightly toasted um what are they called? Almonds. Um you could do it with basil. I personally love finishing it with a few bits of mint. And that is a Sicilian capanata. You might wonder how to eat it. Well, I’ve said you can eat it with bread. You could also have it as a side dish. It could be served um for a party in the summer uh with a load of other dishes. Whatever you do, you’ll love it.