Caponata is a Sicilian stewed vegetable. The ingredients and preparation of caponata can vary slightly depending on the region. However, eggplants are usually used. We stole this version with celery from the recipe column "Wochenmarkt" in the German newspaper DIE ZEIT. The author previously stole the recipe from The Store Kitchen at Berlin Soho House. We hope you are the next thief! This vegan caponata is simply too delicious to keep a secret.
Recipes have always been passed on and changed: from campfire to campfire, from mother to daughter, from one country to the next. The fact that no one can claim a recipe as their intellectual property is, of course, a good thing. What kind of world would it be if only one person was the author of apple strudel? Still, it's nice to think of the chef and creator of a dish when making and eating it. We bake "Ligita's Cake", we love to ottolengize salads and our chef Lottie often spoils us with culinary tricks from Demuth's Cookery School. It's often not just the food itself that fascinates us, but the people, the story or the experience behind it. We love to share our favourite recipes and hope it reminds you of the taste of MoaAlm!
The etymology of Caponata has not been reliably clarified. Some suspect that it comes from the Catalan language, others that it is derived from “caupone”, the sailors' taverns. We like the story that caponata derives from the name of a fish - the capone - which was served with a particular sweet and sour sauce by the Sicilian nobility. The people, who could not afford this fish, replaced it with vegetables. In other words: Don't hesitate to modify or veganize your old family recipes. The result could be very good.
For 4 people as a starter
1 bunch of celery
70g almonds
40ml olive oil
100g olives (green, coarsely chopped)
1 tbsp sultanas
25 g sugar
50 ml white wine vinegar (plus a little more for soaking)
90g capers
Basil (to garnish)
Clean the celery and cut into 1cm strips, preferably diagonally. Cook in boiling water for 5 minutes and prepare a bowl of ice water. Briefly place the celeriac in the ice bath to keep it crunchy. Soak the sultanas for at least 10 minutes in a mixture of white wine vinegar and water in a ration 1:5. Roughly chop the almonds and toast in a non-stick pan without oil. Heat the olive oil in another pan, add the olives and most of the roasted almonds, reserving the rest for garnish. Stir the sugar into the white wine vinegar and pour the mixture into the pan. Allow to simmer, then add the celeriac. Cook for 10 minutes on a low heat. Once the vegetables have absorbed the Sicilian agrodolce (the sweet and sour flavour), pour the caponata into a bowl and leave to cool. It is best to leave it to infuse for a few hours or overnight. Stir in the capers before serving, sprinkle with basil and the remaining almonds. At MoaAlm we serve this caponata as a starter, sometimes with bread.
We hope you enjoy this appetiser and don't forget us: #moaalmretreat