Eggplant Caponata

April 16, 2020

Caponata is an Italian appetizer that’s bursting with flavor! Eggplant and Mediterranean vegetables make a tangy, garlicky spread that’s perfect over crusty bread.

Here’s a new appetizer that we’re head over heels with: caponata! What’s caponata, you ask? This Sicilian specialty is an appetizer and a side dish, essentially a sweet and sour ratatouille with cooked eggplant, tomatoes and onion. It’s often spread on crusty bread as an appetizer or antipasti (as the Italians would say). It’s so full of tangy, garlicky flavor that once you’ve taken one bite, you’ll likely want to devour the entire serving dish. So hold onto your hats! Here’s how to make Italian caponata…and then how to serve it like the Italians do.

What’s in caponata?

Caponata is a classic Italian eggplant dish. And like any classic dish (like potato salad or coleslaw), there are endless variations on how to make it. Alex and I researched to make sure this version has all the classic elements: and we’ve customized a bit to our personal tastes! Here’s what’s in our version of caponata:

Eggplant (and it doesn’t need to be drained! see below)
Red pepper, red onion and celery
Garlic
Canned tomatoes
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar and sugar to balance tangy and sweet
Capers to add briny, salty flavor
Fresh basil and pine nuts, to garnish

Some other additions you’ll see in some versions: green olives to add even more briny flavor, and golden raisins to add more sweet. We nixed both in flavor of a straightforward, classic caponata: but you can certainly add them if you’d like! (I’d love to add the golden raisins, but Alex is less of a salty-sweet person than I am!)

No need to salt and drain the eggplant!

If you’ve cooked with eggplant before, you’ll know: many eggplant recipes call for letting it drain with salt on it for 1 hour to extract some of the bitterness from the eggplant. If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered: is this extra step really necessary?

We did some research, and guess what? It’s not really necessary in this day and age. Per Epicurious, salting eggplant used to be conventional practice with eggplants years ago because they were more bitter. Today’s eggplants are bred to be less bitter, so there’s no need to salt them. Look: we saved you an hour!

Toasted pine nuts = icing on the cake!

Pine nuts are traditional for topping caponata. They’re an Italian nut that, believe it or not, does come from pine trees! Because it’s so time consuming to harvest and the trees grow only in certain regions, pine nuts can be pricey. But! They’re absolutely worth it for the nutty, uniquely Italian flavor they provide. If you can’t find them, you can omit entirely (or see these substitutes).

If you do use them, follow this advice: Toast the pine nuts before you use them! Toasting the nuts on the stove or in the oven brings out their flavor in a big way: almost like using salt to bring out the flavor in a recipe! They’re not nearly as good without toasting. You’ve been warned!

Capers enhance the salty flavor

If you’ve never cooked with capers, now’s the time! What are they? Capers are a berry of the caper bush that’s native to the Mediterranean. They’re round and dark green gray, about the size of a peppercorn. You’ll find them in Italian and Mediterranean recipes. They bring a tangy, briny and salty flavor to any dish.

Capers are served pickled, so you’ll find them in jars near the olives at the grocery story. If you pick up a joar, also try them in our Salmon with Capers, Roasted Eggplant Pasta, and Paprika Goat Cheese Spread.

Ways to serve caponata: as an appetizer or side! (Or a meal.)

Once you’ve made up a batch of caponata, now’s the fun part. Eating it! There are lots of ways to eat caponata, but probably the most common is using it to top crusty bread. Since it’s Italian in heritage, it works well with Mediterranean-style meals. Here are a few ways that we’d serve it:

On crusty bread or baguette slices. If you’re the baking type, try our Homemade Baguette.
On crostini. You can also make crunchy Crostini, essentially crackers made out of baguette, which makes more of a showy presentation.
On a cheese board or appetizer spread. It’s nice for an antipasto spread because it’s a rare plant-based Italian appetizer option.
As a side to baked or grilled fish. It would make a great side to our Salmon with Capers.
As a side to pasta. Try alongside Cacio e Pepe, Easy Creamy Gnocchi, or Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo.
In grilled cheese. Throw some in the middle of a grilled cheese sandwich and you’ve got a heavenly treat.
As a meal. Alex and I have split a bottle of wine with baguette, caponata, and some cheese or seasoned white beans. Perfect appetizer dinner!

This caponata recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free.