The first time I prepared the caponata it was one of my last dinners in Liège before I moved to Italy. We did a barbecue from 4 pm to late at night. Friends came, some arrived really really late because they were stuck on the highway coming back from Ostende, on the seaside  (at a Roman scale it is like being stuck on the Cristoforo Colombo coming back from Ostia after a day of farniente!). Almost 4 years ago. I remembered we did tons of sangria, bought tons of beers (we did not drank it all, I brought back here), prepared tons of salads, crumbles, desserts… Nice time. Then friends left, I left… the end of an era!

But let’s be more « terre à terre« . The caponata is an sicilian dish, made of eggplants, olives, tomato sauce, celery, capers, basil and onion. Some recipes also include pine nuts. It is better prepared in advance as you have to eat it cold. So a fresh summer dish. I got the recipe from Elle à Table, the book. I did it 2 or 3 times since that day, and it seems to be appreciated by my italian jury.

I would suggest to take long eggplants (like the one in the picture). The bigger ones have more seeds and a little bitter.

For those that are following me I stop from now with the italian version. The recipes in italian will be available in another website, soon.

Click here for recipe of Caponata