Caponata Spread

By Heather Lionelle

• Prep: 25 minutes
• Cook: 35 minutes
• Yield: 3 Cups

Each year we spend an inordinately large amount of time looking for a new and delicious appetizer. We always want something tasty to snack on while we cook dinner, generally because we’ve all short changed breakfast in our eagerness to get to lunch and dinner. This year my idea was to make a caponata spread to go over crostini. The beauty of this particular recipe is two fold. Instead of the traditional grilled eggplant I stir in lacto-fermented eggplant at the end so the spread is probiotic. Secondly the whole thing can be made in advance (even the crostini) so there is no prep or extra dirty dishes the day of the big event.

In my experience caponata is typically used as an appetizer, but you could easily double or triple the recipe and have a cooked vegetable salad or vegetable stew instead.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 rib celery, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 14.5 oz diced tomatoes with juice
• 1/2 cup chopped crimini mushrooms
• 1 Tbsp drained and rinsed capers
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/8 cup chopped green olives
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup chopped fermented eggplant (grilled eggplant is also delicious)
• 1/4 chopped nuts (pinion and almond both work well)

Directions

1. Put garlic and onions in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook until translucent and beginning to caramelize.
2. Add celery and cook a few minutes more.
3. Add red bell pepper, tomatoes, mushrooms, capers, sea salt, olives and vinegar. Simmer until the juice has thickened and the color has deepened to a dark red, about 20 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in olive oil, eggplant and nuts.
5. May be served warm or cold.