Eggplant Caponata

It’s no secret that I adore eggplant. My husband will attest, if we go to a restaurant and there’s eggplant on the menu I’m getting it. So of course I’m always excited to find new ways to cook it at home.

I checked my fridge tonight and realized I had the makings of Caponata, the classic sweet and sour Sicilian eggplant dish, sitting right there begging to be led to their destiny. I found Mario Batali’s version online and adapted it for what I had on hand. I’ll link to his original recipe below.

Be forewarned upfront, this is not a quick dish. Give yourself about 90 minutes cooking time, then ideally it’s cooled to room temperature before serving (although I was eating it so quickly I burned my tongue. And it was worth it!) BUT, and I say this with a seriousness seldom seen from me, it is like Heaven in your mouth. Surely that’s worth a few extra minutes in the kitchen.

If you haven’t had a dish like this before, the ingredients may look a little strange. In the middle of the recipe you take a breakfast-worthy combination of cocoa powder, cinnamon and sugar and pour it over garlicky vegetables, but that combination becomes magic by the time it’s all slow-cooked together. Try it.

Eggplant and Zucchini Caponata

1/4 cup olive oil
1 large red onion, chopped in 1/2-inch dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, chopped in ½ inch dice
1 1/2 Tablespoons chopped almonds
1 1/2 Tablespoons craisins
1/4 teaspoon chopped jalapeno
1/2 Tablespoon hot chili flakes, plus extra for garnish
1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large zucchini cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 can chopped tomatoes with juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions
In a large soup pot, heat olive oil and add onion, garlic, almonds, craisins, jalapenos and chili flakes. Sauté 5 minutes until softened.

Add the eggplant, zucchini, red pepper, sugar, cinnamon, cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon salt and continue to cook, covered and over lower heat, for 5 more minutes. Watch carefully to prevent scorching and stir occasionally.
Add the thyme, tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar. Cover and bring the mixture to a boil (this will happen quickly and at a low heat due to the cover).

Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour until the vegetables are very very soft. Continue to be careful of scorching and stir occasionally (there should be a good layer of juice in there, but if necessary add more tomato liquid or vegetable stock).

As it reaches the end of cooking, salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Eat heaped high in a bowl or serve appetizer-style with crostini.

Mario's original recipe can be found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/eggplant-caponata-recipe/index.html

Eggplant Pizza

This pizza immediately received the “This-Is-The-Best-Thing-You’ve-Ever-Made” seal of approval from Austin and I have to agree – it’s delicious! For this dish, I did two things differently than usual: I salted the eggplant prior to cooking and I used a cookie tray to bake the pizza rather than my trusty pizza stone.

Salting eggplant and letting it “sweat” prior to cooking is one of those things The Man is always telling me to do. It’s pretty much standard procedure in nearly every eggplant recipe I’ve ever seen. However, it’s always struck me as a time-consuming, messy and unnecessary prep task and I skip it (Punk 4 Life!) I guess I was feeling a little more by-the-book than normal though, because I decided to try it for this recipe, and I loved the results! It produced the flavor and texture of eggplant I’m used to having at restaurants but have not been able to recreate at home. It basically reduces the water content of the flesh, making it cook faster and brown beautifully.

I use a bread machine to make my pizza dough, and typically cook it on a scorching-hot pizza stone. Baking it in a cookie sheet produced a crust that was thick, soft and reminiscent of focaccia bread, which was a nice change of pace and got rave reviews from Austin. Use whatever dough recipe you prefer (there are tons to be found online), or for a quicker meal buy a pre-baked crust from the grocery store.

As always, I didn’t measure my ingredients as I put this together. Just eyeball it and use “enough.” We’ve all had pizza, we know when it looks right. One last note, this recipe calls for a generous use of olive oil. Just remember that it’s good for you.

Ingredients:

Dough for one pizza (use your favorite recipe or a pre-made crust)
1 eggplant, cut in half lengthwise then into ¼” half moons. No need to peel.
½ - 1 cup pizza sauce
½ - 2 Tablespoons Sriracha hot sauce (optional)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
Diced tomato
Mozzarella cheese
Italian seasoning (or 1 Tablespoon each: dried rosemary, basil and oregano)
Olive oil
Salt

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. If you’ve made your dough ahead of time, get it out of the fridge and let it warm to room temperature.

Lay the eggplant slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet and lightly sprinkle with salt. Set aside while you dice the tomato and shred the cheese or just dance around to some good songs. Let the tomato dice drain onto paper towels to remove some of the moisture.

Mix the tomato pizza sauce (or heck, throw caution to the wind and try pesto) with the Sriracha hot sauce and the minced garlic. The hot sauce is optional, but the idea of pizza without Sriracha breaks my tiny heart. Just sayin.

Oil your cookie sheet (I used a 10” x 15” sheet with ¾” depth), then press the dough evenly to fill the entire pan. Use a fork to stab little holes all over the crust to avoid air bubbles. Then brush liberally with olive oil.

After 20-30 minutes, check on the eggplant. It should have little beads of moisture on top. Use plenty of paper towels and press down lightly on the slices to squeeze the moisture out. Don’t crush them roughly, just try to get them dried off.

In a skillet, heat a teaspoon of oil over medium heat. Add the dry eggplant slices about 4 or 5 at a time so that the pan isn’t too crowded. Give them a swirl so they all get some oil then let them cook undisturbed for 5-7 minutes or so until they’re golden brown on one side; then flip to the other side. Pour another teaspoon of oil into the pan and give them another swirl.

Cook until both sides are softened and golden brown, with maybe a few darker brown spots here and there. Remember they’ll cook a little bit more in the oven so you don’t want to get them all-the-way browned in the pan. Remove the slices to drain on paper towels and sprinkle very lightly with a little more salt. Repeat this process until all the eggplant slices are cooked, adding oil with each batch so the slices aren’t dry-frying.

Now, to assemble the pizza! First the sauce, then the diced tomato, then the cheese, then sprinkle with the Italian seasoning, then the eggplant (nom, nom, nom).
Bake on the top rack for 10 minutes, then check again every 2-3 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the underneath is cooked and bready. In my oven it took 15 minutes total. If you’re using a pre-baked crust it will take much less time – follow the package baking directions.

This recipe would be awesome with fresh basil torn and scattered on top after baking, or with sun dried tomatoes added to the sauce. Mmmm, or maybe dollops of goat cheese baked on top of the eggplant. Let me know if you try it!