Caponata
- See also capponata, a seafood salad also known as caponata estiva or caponata di pesce
Caponata (Sicilian: capunata) is a Sicilian aubergine (eggplant) dish consisting of a cooked vegetable salad made from chopped fried eggplant and celery seasoned with sweetened vinegar, with capers in a sweet and sour sauce.[1]
Numerous local variations of the ingredients exist with some versions adding olives, carrots and green bell peppers, and others adding potatoes, or pine nuts and raisins.
There is a Palermo version that adds octopus, while an aristocratic Sicilian recipe includes lobster and swordfish garnished with wild asparagus, grated dried tuna roe and shrimp.[2] However, these last examples are exceptions to the general rule of a sweet and sour cooked vegetable stew or salad.
Today, caponata is typically used as a side dish for fish dishes and sometimes as an appetizer, but since the 1700s it has also been used as a main course.
A similar Neapolitan dish is called cianfotta.
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[edit] Etymology
The etymology of the name is not entirely known. Some suggest it derives from the Catalan language, others that it comes from the caupone, the sailors' taverns.[3] The dishes described by Wright would suggest that in the past the Sicilian dish was similar to the Genoese capponata.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Gangi, Roberta (2006). "Caponata". Best of Sicily Magazine. http://www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art221.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
- ^ Phillips, Kyle. "Caponata alla Siciliana-The Baroness of Carni's Caponata". http://italianfood.about.com/od/eggplant/r/blr0049.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
- ^ Wright, Clifford A. (2008). "A History of the Sicilian Caponata". http://www.cliffordawright.com/caw/food/entries/display.php/id/57/. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
- Max Suterini - Traditional Palermitan Caponata Recipe: http://www.easysicilian.com/?p=72
[edit] External links
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