Newly married in 1992, and having moved to a new community, I thought the next thing to do was join Junior League. It made sense since I’d been a girl scout and in a sorority; Junior League was another female organization that had a philanthropic focus to it.
The main fund raiser of the group at the time was selling a cookbook. I got the Family & Company Traditional Recipes with a Flair and began making my way through the recipes.
Caponata. Huh? Never heard of it but it had lots of yummy ingredients. The oven temperature was even missing from the recipe but I thought I’d give it a go. OMG! I ate half of it by myself in one sitting, it was so good!
I still make it 20 years later. Everyone loves the smell while it’s baking and loves eating it up warm or cold. The recipe below is my variation of the recipe
Caponata
- 2 medium eggplants
- 1 red pepper cut in 1-inch squares
- 1 yellow pepper cut into 1-inch squares
- 2 medium zucchini cut into chunks
- 1 large onion cut into chunks
- 1/4 c. capers (I tend to put in more since my family eats capers for breakfast, literally)
- 1/2 c green olives (or black if I don’t have any green in the house)
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 can tomato sauce
- Garlic – as much as you can tolerate. Son wanders through and dumps in more regardless of how much I’ve already put in
- 2/3 c. olive oil
- 1/2 c. white vinegar (I’ve used cider vinegar too)
- 1 TBS sugar
Oven: 350 degrees
- Cut eggplant into 1-inch cubes
- In a large 11×15 roasting pan, combine eggplant, peppers, zucchini, onions, capers, olives, tomatoes, tomato sauce, garlic and oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Combine vinegar and sugar in a microwavable measuring cup or bowl. Microwave for a minute and dissolve sugar into the vinegar. Pour over veggies and Mix thoroughly.
- Bake in oven for 2 to 2.5 hours, stirring every half hour. The final half hour is when the veggies start to caramelize and reach their yummiest point.
- Serve with flat bread, pita, or some other sort of delivery system
Although the recipe says this serves 16-20, it’s good for us for a dinner and a snack then next day. Yumm.
