Warm Caponata with Toasted Peanuts

Similar to ratatouille, caponata is a traditional Sicilian dish, featuring eggplant, tomato sauce, onion and celery. Caponata is usually served at room temperature as a side dish or salad. This recipe is adapted from Ristorante LaNicchia in Pantelleria, Italy and is served warm. The combination of warm eggplant, sweet and sour dressing, plus crunchy peanuts and capers is totally delicious.

Filed Under: Mediterranean Diet, Side dishes, Dinner, Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-free, Staff Favorites

Rating

Average: 0 (0 votes)

Active time

30 minutes

Total time

1 hour 30 minutes

Yield

8 servings

Serving Size

1/8 recipe

Ingredients

2 medium-to-large eggplants

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

½ cup water

2-3 celery stalks, diced

1 medium-sized onion, diced

¼ cup capers (preferably Pantellerian)

1 ½ tablespoons sugar

¼ cup tomato sauce (homemade or store bought), or more if desired

1 tablespoon vinegar

¼ cup ﬁnely minced peanuts, toasted

¼ cup black olives (optional)

Instructions

Peel the eggplants, and dice into 1⁄2-inch cubes. Arrange the eggplant cubes on a sheet, salt, and let sit, or “sweat,” for 1 hour.
In a medium frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the extra-virgin olive oil and the water over medium heat. Add the onion and celery, and sauté over medium heat until the water evaporates. Add the capers, olives (if using), sugar, and tomato sauce, and simmer for 15 minutes.
Separately, heat the remaining 6 tablesppoons olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Fry the eggplant cubes until cooked through, 7-10 minutes.
Add the celery, onion, and tomato sauce mixture to the eggplant.
Stir in the vinegar.
Serve the caponata in four portions, topping each with a sprinkling of the toasted peanuts.

An Oldways recipe and photograph, created in Partnership with The Peanut Institute peanut-institute.org