Recipe#9601

Title: Caponata 01

From: eesnyder@uiuc.edu 
 Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes 
 Subject: Caponata 
 Date: 16 Sep 1994 17:06:35 -0400 
 Organization: University of Illinois 
 Message-ID: <35d1cr$mts@junior.wariat.org> 

1/3 cup golden raisins
 2 medium sized eggplants
 salt
 the best olive oil
 1 onion, thinly sliced
 3 inner, white celery ribs, diced
 3 cups drained, canned Italian plum tomatoes
 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
 1/4 cup capers
 1/4 cup pignoli (pine nuts)
 2 T sugar
 2 T red wine vinegar
 freshly milled black pepper
 Soak the raisins in warm water for 30 mins. Drain and pat dry.
 Wash the eggplants and cut into 1" cubes. Put the cubes in a colander, 
 sprinkle with salt, and let stand for 1 hour to drain.  Rinse quickly
 and pat dry.
 Pour 1/2" olive oil in a skillet. When it's hot, add the eggplant cubes 
 without crowding them.  Fry to a nice golden brown. Remove with a slotted 
 spoon and continue untill all the eggplant is done.
 Discard all but a slight bit of the oil. Add the onion and celery and
 saute over medium heat until the onion is a pale yellow.
 Press the tomatoes through a food mill or strainer to remove the seeds.
 Add the tomatoes, eggplant, olives, capers, pine nuts, raisins, vinegar,
 suger, and liberal amounts of milled black pepper.  Bring to a boil,
 reduce heat, cook uncovered for 15 mins.
 Let caponatina cool to room temperature before serving.  Serve with 
 bruschetta as an appetizer.