Caponata

Cut the aubergines into cubes and leave them for an hour on a tray, covered with coarse salt.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry them well, then drain over a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

Dice the celery and boil it for 4 minutes to make it more tender.

In a separate pan, in a bit of olive oil, sauté the olives (without pits) together with the capers and celery.

Add the tomato sauce, vinegar and sugar. Then add the fried aubergine and let it absorb the flavours for a few minutes over a very low flame.

Give the pan a shake from time to time so that nothing sticks to the bottom.

Heat the oven and toast the almonds for about 5 minutes. Check salt and add more if needed.

Serve the caponata cold, covered with the slivered almonds. It’s also delicious at room temperature and is even better the next day.

Tips & tricks

• Of the many different kinds of aubergine, Sicilian aubergines are unsurprisingly the best suited to caponata, but there’s plenty more to try.
• Caponata is delicious eaten the next day as a side to accompany chicken or fish.
• If you don’t have slivered almonds to sprinkle over the top, try toasted pine nuts.

What does caponata mean?

Like many traditional Sicilian dishes, the origins of the name caponata are hard to pin down. Some believe it is derived from Catalan, others that it’s linked to the Sicilian word for a sailors’ tavern, caupone. What is not up for debate is how delicious caponata is – Sicilian cuisine is some of the most varied in Italy and can be both complex and unexpectedly simple.

This recipe was updated on 11/10/2023.