Caponata on Toast with Buffalo Mozzarella
This caponata is a twist on the quintessentially Sicilian veggie dish of aubergines, tomatoes, capers and pine nuts. The addition of celery gives a surprising extra depth of flavour that just makes the dish sing!
Serves: 4-6
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
You’ll need
Extra virgin olive oil
3 large aubergines, cut into 2cm chunks
Sea salt
1 red onion, peeled and thickly sliced
4 celery stalks, cut into 1cm slices
200ml passata
75g capers, drained and rinsed
150g kalamata olives, pitted and halved
50g sugar
50-75ml red wine vinegar
Seeded sourdough, sliced
Buffalo mozzarella
50g pine nuts, toasted
Fresh basil leaves
What to do
Heat 5cm of oil in a deep, heavy-based frying pan until hot. Fry the diced aubergine in batches until golden brown and soft. Drain on kitchen paper, sprinkle with salt and set aside.
Wipe out the frying pan and add 4 more tbsp of oil. Heat over a medium-low heat then add the onion and celery and cook for 8 minutes. Add the passata and cook for another 5 minutes, then stir in the capers and olives.
Add the sugar and vinegar to the pan, allowing the sugar to dissolve in the heat.
Stir and cook for 5 minutes, tasting to see if it needs more sugar or vinegar. Turn off the heat, add the aubergines and gently mix together.
Grill the sourdough slices. Top each slice with a couple of generous spoons of caponata, torn mozzarella, pine nuts and basil leaves.
Recipe courtesy of Love Celery
Melina - Assistant Editor
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