Sicily, ‘The Old Country’, the birthplace of Vito Corleone and home to one of our favourite Italian dishes: Caponata. Patrick learned how to make this dish whilst filming in the beautiful coastal town of Catania and (in a fairly risky move) has decided to recreate it with a few of his own flavours. Italians are fiercely protective of their recipes so, for his sake, let’s keep this one under our hats!
The quantities provided above are averages only.
Boxes and ingredients are packed in facilities that handles Peanut, Nuts, Sesame, Fish, Crustaceans, Milk, Egg, Mustard, Celery, Soya, Gluten and Sulphites. Due to the war in Ukraine, it has been necessary to substitute sunflower oil with rapeseed oil in some products without a label change. The FSA have advised that allergic reactions to rapeseed oil are rare.
1
Aubergine
(May contain Celery)
⅗
Celery Stick
(Contains Celery)
2
Garlic Clove
1
Red Pepper
1
Green Pepper
1
Sausage
(Contains Sulphites, Cereals containing gluten)
1
Chopped Tomatoes
½
Capers
1
White Wine Vinegar
(Contains Sulphites)
1
Ciabatta
(Contains Cereals containing gluten May contain Cereals containing gluten)
Olive Oil
Salt
1
Sugar
Pepper
Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees. Slice the aubergine in half lengthways and then slice each half into 5 strips. Dice the aubergine into 2cm cubes, finely chop the celery and one clove of garlic. Remove the core from the peppers and chop into little bite- sized chunks.
In a bowl, coat the aubergine and peppers in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Spread evenly on a baking tray and roast on the top shelf of the oven. Cook for 20 mins or until a little crispy around the edges.
Heat 2 tsp of olive oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Once hot, add in the garlic and celery with a pinch of salt and pepper. While they cook, slice open the sausages and put the meat in the pan too. Break it up and cook for 5 mins.
Tip in the tin of organic chopped tomatoes and then refill the tin by a fifth with water. Swill the water around and add this into the sauce. Add 1⁄4 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar (if you have it), the capers and 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar. Leave to simmer and thicken up for 10-15 mins.
Once the vegetables have roasted, remove from the oven. Switch off the oven and turn the grill to high. Add the roasted vegetables into the pan and stir.
Cut the ciabatta and toast on each side under the grill. Once toasted, cut the remaining clove of garlic in half. Rub the clove of garlic across the top of the ciabatta. Drizzle over a little olive oil and a pinch of salt.
Once the caponata has thickened up nicely, serve into warm bowls. It can be eaten with cutlery or by using the ciabatta as a small edible shovel!