Caponata With Pine Nuts And Raisins Recipes

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add celery and cook uncovered until softened, about 1 minute. Drain in a colander and immediately immerse in ice water for several minutes to stop the cooking process. Drain.
• Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat; add onion and celery and cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add eggplant, red bell peppers, and zucchini and cook until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato puree, vinegar, and sugar. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Add olives, raisins, pine nuts, and capers. Season with salt and pepper and cook until flavors are well combined, about 5 minutes.
• Remove skillet from heat; stir in chopped basil. Cool and serve at room temperature.

Steps:

• Toss eggplants with 2 tablespoons salt in a colander set over a bowl; chill 3-10 hours.
• Gather up eggplants in a kitchen towel; squeeze out excess liquid. Combine eggplants, fennel, and vegetable oil in a large heavy pot set over high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until eggplants are golden brown and fennel is soft, 20-25 minutes. Transfer vegetables to paper towels to drain; let cool slightly.
• Meanwhile, toast pine nuts in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat, tossing often, until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium. Cook onion, chiles, and garlic, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned, 6-8 minutes. Stir in paprika and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, vinegar, and sugar; bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add nuts, cranberries, and eggplant mixture. Toss until heated through and glazed; season with salt. Let cool; serve with bread.

Steps:

• Coat 2 cookie sheets with 2 tablespoons olive oil each, spread with eggplant and roast about 10-12 minutes. Remove.
• Saute garlic in 2 tablespoons olive oil over moderate heat until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the onions and celery and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, cover and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
• Stir together vinegar and sugar. Add to the onion-tomato mixture along with the eggplant and raisins. Cover and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until all the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. (May be made to this point up to 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.).
• When ready to serve, let come to room temperature and stir in remaining ingredients. Serve with pita bread crisps.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, toss the eggplant generously with olive oil and salt, to taste. Spread out on a baking sheet and roast until the eggplant is soft and mushy, about 15 to 20 minutes. Reserve.
• Coat a wide deep pot with olive oil. Toss in the onion and crushed red pepper and season with salt, to taste. Cook over medium-high heat until the onions are soft and aromatic, about 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add the fennel, celery and garlic and cook for another 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the peppers and cook for another 5 to 6 minutes. Add the zucchini, season with salt, to taste, and cook until the zucchini and all the veggies are soft and aromatic and starting to come together as a stew, about 5 to 6 minutes. Toss in the eggplant, 1/2 cup of water and the tomato paste. Cook until the water has evaporated. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a small bowl and add it to the mixture. Stir in the raisins, capers, pine nuts and mint. Cook for another 5 to 6 minutes.
• Let cool and transfer the caponata to a serving bowl. Serve immediately or even better tomorrow or the next day.

Steps:

• Heat 2 large nonstick pans over high heat. Divide the olive oil between the 2 pans, when the oil is hot add the vegetables all together and season with gray salt and pepper, to taste, and chili flakes. Saute all of the vegetables together for about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the pine nuts and orange zest and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or until all of the vegetables are soft and the flavors are well infused.
• Meanwhile in a small saute pan combine the vinegar with the sugar and the raisins, bring to a boil and reduce until slightly syrupy. When the vegetables are cooked and still hot combine with the vinegar syrup and the basil, taste for salt and pepper and serve hot as a side dish.

Steps:

• Make the caponata: In a heavy skillet heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over moderately high heat until it hot but not smoking, in it cook the eggplant, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until it is tender, and transfer it to a bowl. To the skillet add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and in it cook the onion and the celery over moderate heat, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the olives, the capers, the vinegar, the sugar, the raisins, the pine nuts, and the tomatoes and cook the mixture, covered, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until it is cooked through and the celery is tender, and transfer it to the bowl. Stir in the parsley, let the caponata cool, and chill it, covered,overnight. Season the caponata with salt and pepper.
• Make the bruschetta: Grill the bread on an oiled rack set about 4 inches over glowing coals for 1 minute on each side, brush the toasts on one side with the oil, and sprinkle them with salt to taste.
• Top each toast generously with some of the caponata, arrange 2 or 3 toasts on each of 4 plates, and garnish each serving with the parsley sprigs.

Steps:

• Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add eggplant, bell peppers, fennel, and garlic; sauté until eggplant is tender, about 10 minutes.
• Add olives and raisins, then mix in tomato sauce and vinegar. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Uncover and simmer until caponata is thick and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes longer. Mix in basil.
• Season caponata to taste with sugar, salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Serve at room temperature. Makes 6 cups.

Steps:

• Pour the olive oil into a large heavybased saucepan or casserole, place over a medium heat and add the aubergines. Cook for a good 15-20 mins until they are soft. Scoop the aubergines out of the pan - you should be left with some olive oil. Add the shallots and cook for about 5 mins until they are soft and translucent. Add the tomatoes and cook slowly, so they break down and turn to a soft mush, then add the aubergines back to the pan. Now put in the capers, raisins, celery and vinegar, season well and cover with a lid. Cook over a low heat for 40 mins, until all the vegetables are soft. Stir gently so it doesn't break up too much; the stew should smell sweet and sour.
• When the caponata is cooked, leave to cool slightly while you make the bruschetta. Heat a griddle pan, drizzle the bread with olive oil and griddle until toasted and lightly charred on both sides, then rub with a garlic clove and season. Serve the warm caponata scattered with the basil leaves and pine nuts, with bruschetta on the side.