Caponata Siciliana

Ingredients

• 2 eggplant, cut into 2 cm cubes
• 3 celery stalk, sliced on the diagonal
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 400 g canned tomatoes
• 100 g green olives, pitted and halved
• 2 tbsp capers, rinsed
• 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 40 g raisins
• 30 g pine nuts
• 2 tbsp fresh basil, torn
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste

Method

1. 1.

   Salt and drain the aubergine — Toss the diced eggplant with a generous pinch of salt in a colander and leave to drain for 30 minutes. Rinse briefly, then squeeze and pat the cubes really dry so they fry rather than steam.

2. 2.

   Toast the pine nuts, fry the aubergine — Toast the pine nuts in a large dry frying pan over medium heat until sandy gold, about 2 minutes, then tip them out. Pour the olive oil into the same pan and fry the eggplant in two batches over fairly high heat until deep gold and collapsing, lifting each batch onto kitchen paper.

3. 3.

   Soften the celery and onion — Lower the heat, add the sliced onion and celery with a little more oil if the pan looks dry, and cook for 8-10 minutes until the celery has lost its raw crunch but still has bite.

4. 4.

   Simmer the tomato base — Stir in the canned tomatoes, olives, capers and raisins, season lightly with salt and pepper, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes until the sauce is thick and no longer watery.

5. 5.

   Balance the sweet and sour — Dissolve the sugar in the red wine vinegar and pour it over the sauce. Return the fried eggplant to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes more, until the sharp vinegar smell has rounded out into a balanced sweet-and-sour.

6. 6.

   Cool, then finish with basil — Take the pan off the heat and let the caponata cool to room temperature for at least an hour — it tastes flat hot and only opens up once cooled. Fold through the toasted pine nuts and torn basil just before serving.