Caponata alla Siciliana

Ingredients

• Celery

  Raw

  567g

• Olive oil

  Salad or cooking

  1 tbsp or 14g

• Tomatoes

  Red, ripe, raw, year round average

  340g

• Eggplant

  Raw

  1.02kg

• Onions

  Raw

  340g

• Capers

  Canned

  170g

• Pine nuts

  Nuts, dried

  5 tbsp or 42g

• Olives

  Pickled, canned or bottled, green

  227g

• Red wine vinegar

  ⅓ cup or 79g

• Sugar

  White, granulated sugar

  2 tbsp or 25g

• Tomato sauce

  No salt added

  1 cup or 245g

• Basil

  Fresh

  1 cup leaves, whole or 24g

• Salt

  Table

  1 dash or 0.4g

Directions

1. Begin by stripping filaments away from celery stalks, then blanch them in lightly salted water for 5 minutes. Drain, cut them into pieces, saure them in a little oil, and set them aside.
2. Cut a small x shape in the bottom of each tomato, then drop them into boiling water for abour 30 seconds to blanch them and make the peels easy to remove. Peel them and chop them.
3. Finely slice the onions and saute them in olive oil; once they have turned translucent, about 5 minutes, add the capers, pine nuts, olives, and tomatoes. Continue cooking, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the tomatoes are done, about 15 minutes, and then remove from heat.
4. While the tomatoes are cooking, heat a skillet with some oil and fry the diced eggplant, in several batches. When the last batch is done, return the tomatoes to heat and stir in the eggplant, together with the celery. Add the tomato sauce, if desired. Cook for several minutes over low heat, stirring gently, then stir in vinegar and sugar. When vinegae has almost completely evaporated, remove pot from heat and let cool.
5. Serve at room temperature with a garnish of basil, if desired.