Why Caponata?

Making a good caponata takes the same crazy mix of ingredients that you'd put into a well balanced life. It's all about the sweet and the savory working together in harmony. Nana taught me to make la caponata years ago when I was in my early teens. She has been eating this delicious eggplant relish her whole life and is still going strong at 98, her longevity yet another reason to add it to your recipe box. The foundational first ingredients of the caponata are onions and celery, two stalks or so, that are browned in olive oil. This is not a recipe that should be rushed, so slow down and take your time. While the onion mix is cooking down you should be well into chopping up the eggplant into small-medium size cubes. There is no exact amount of eggplant, but I use two to three decent size long and thin eggplant for every onion. Nana has convinced me that the thinner eggplant will cook up to be more tender, and not so bitter as the more rotund examples. Help the chopped eggplant slide down the cutting board into the pan. If you are having "one of those days", make a caponata. If the sun is shining outside but you're still feeling blue, make a caponata. You should let the eggplant get slightly soft and start to unite the mix you've got so far. Open a large can of crushed tomato and add it to the happy pot. Stir the mix so that the tomato well covers the eggplant mixture. Do this with love and patience, the flame should be low now, and you can take a little while to daydream,....thoughts of Italy, of Nana's New Jersey kitchens, of your first kiss, etc., while the eggplant cooks down further. If you haven't done so yet, put on some of your favorite music. Once the sauce has cooked "into" the eggplant mix, add one cup of red vinegar to the mix. Follow the vinegar with one cup of sugar. Give the new and improved, about to turn sassy mix a good stir through. You'll also need some green and black olives. You can use just one kind or the other, but the caponata wont be as colorful, and trust me, it's just as pretty a dish to look at as it is tasty to eat. Nana taught me to chop them in half, and even a little smaller is fine, but don't go too small. Think hearty. Now comes the wonderfully salty, joyful little capers. Add enough so that they're "easy to find" in the mix, but don't go overboard or the caponata could end up being more salty than sweet. We don't want that. One time, I was making a caponata and was doing a little too much talking with my roommate and instead of pouring a cup of sugar into the mix, I measured out a cup of salt from a storage jar, and needless to say, there was no saving it. It was salt city, and the batch was done in. So.... daydream yes, but be present in the kitchen. Once the capers are in you can add a bit of pepper to taste, you shouldn't need to add salt, as the olives and capers take care of that task. Let the mixture continue to cook a bit more on a low heat, and then "ci siamo", we've got a caponata. It's nice to eat hot, over pasta or even couscous, but my favorite way to eat it is chilled from the fridge. Great on a cracker, by itself, or paired with some nice fresh italian cheese. It's a great "go to" recipe when you need to check out for a bit from the stress of life, or if you want to make something special for yourself or for someone you really love. Mille grazie Nana.