Because who says you can’t have both in one recipe?
Have you ever realized that a lot of companies that claim to make healthy food, also make it really bland? It’s flavorless and lacks texture, and the best you can say is that it doesn’t leave you feeling sick.
Yeah, we know those meals, and we hate them. SO, we’re offering up this recipe for Caponata, an easy veggie recipe that is packed full of flavor and will leave you full. If you want you can also pair it alongside a smaller portion of pasta or polenta for a more filling meal, or as a lunch made up of leftovers.
Ingredients:
1 lb eggplant
1 cup pine nuts
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
2 carrots
3 green onions
1 rib celery
1/2 cup currants
1/3 cup olive oil (+/-)
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons parsley
1 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Tools:
Baking sheet (1/2 size for toaster oven)
Cutting board
Knife
Bowl (x2)
Cheese grater (optional)
Large frying pan with lid
Measuring cups and spoons
Fine sieve or colander
Can opener
Timer
Serving spoon
Let us start off by saying that caponata is a very flexible recipe (sub things in or out as you wish), but it is not a picky eater approved recipe. Please do not attempt to feed this to fussy small fries or to the family members whose gut-check reaction to anything vegetable is "why?" or "ew." We will not be held responsible for the griping.
Be prepared to spend a good deal of time cutting vegetables for this recipe. We highly recommend toasting the pine nuts (just as they are, don't be tempted to oil or season them) in the oven for about 15 minutes while you chop your many veggies. At least that way you're making progress on two fronts while you bore yourself chopping, and it adds some nice depth of flavor to the final product.
As always: be sure to wash your produce!
Start with the eggplant. Trim the top off, and halve it down the center so you have a flat side to set it on while you cut. No one likes escaping veggies, or nicking fingers trying to catch them. Your goal is to cut this large, funny-looking vegetable into a half inch dice. Once you get it diced, move it to one of the two bowls.
Next up will be your green onions. Trim them up and just roughly chop them, then dump them into the bowl with the eggplant.
Mince or slice your garlic (some families have strong feelings about a preference here, but we don't much care as long as it lands in the pan), and toss it in with the eggplant and the green onion.
That lonely single rib of celery goes next. We find it easiest to cut it lengthwise into thirds before we start the widthwise cuts, that way the chunks of celery aren't so big they end up accidentally taking over the meal. Once it's cut, those pieces go in with the rest so far.
And the carrots you've got can either be chopped or shredded. The regular carrots at our grocery store were sad looking this week, so we subbed in a double handful of baby carrots and shredded them for uniformity. The carrots join the others in the bowl.
That bowl is looking pretty full, isn't it? Time to start on the next.
Take the tops off your peppers and remove and discard the seeds and ribs. Chop down to half-inch dice like the eggplant and move them to the second bowl.
Now you're finally done with the cutting board and the knife, just in time to need a measuring cup!
Measure out your currants and toss them in with the peppers.
Take the capers out of their jar, but don't add them to the bowl yet. These little guys are STRONG, so plop them into a sieve or colander and rinse them thoroughly. Once they're drained, they can join the currants and peppers.
Toss your parsley and basil on top of that second bowl.
And right about now, the timer should be going off for those pine nuts. Just turn off the heat and let them sit for a while; their turn will arrive soon enough.
Now we move our attention to the frying pan on the stove. Pour enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan and light the burner. Set to just over medium and heat until the oil starts to shimmer. Be careful not to set it too high - olive oil has a low smoke point, and you do not want the smoke detector to give you an unnecessary wake up call.
Once the oil is hot, dump the eggplant bowl into the pan. We know it looks like there's not going to be room for anything else - don't worry, it will cook down. Give it a quick stir, then cover the pan. Set a timer for six minutes. Stir occasionally during that time.
When your six minutes are up, push the eggplant mixture to one side of the pan. Add a little more oil, then the bowl of peppers. Stir again and let it cook, uncovered this time, for another three or four minutes.
As the peppers soften up, you're safe to add the pine nuts. Just pour them all in there and give everything another stir. You'll probably need to add another splash of oil at this point, along with the red wine vinegar, the tomato paste and the sugar. (Adding the sugar here offsets the funky smell of the vinegar and helps balance the acidic, tinny taste of the tomato paste.)
Stir. A lot.
We know that tomato paste looks like it's never going to stop being a blob in the middle of the pan... But give it time, and don't quit stirring.
Once everything is incorporated (finally!), use a serving spoon to scoop out a serving to enjoy. We put ours over polenta, but that part is totally up to you.
Let us know over at our Facebook page what you thought of this recipe. We love hearing how they turned out for you.
And if you need new appliance performance, preferably also without the jumbo-sized price tag, maybe reach out to our service department. You can reach them through our contact page, or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055)
