Caponata: recipes for caponata lovers!

Today we cook the Caponata, one of the most famous southern Italian cooking recipes…

Hello! Do you want to try the Italian caponata recipe?

My name is Paola Maggiulli – The Tiny Italian. I’m an Anglo Italian food blogger and I’m in love with Italian food, whether that’s eating it, cooking it or obsessing reading every Italian recipe book on the planet.

Born and bred in London, I grew up between my father’s Italian delicatessen and my parents‘ kitchen, where I learned the pleasures of Italy’s regional cooking and the value of slow living.

Recently back from a food tour of Italy, my mission is to show others how to capture the Mediterranean lifestyle, regardless of where you live, your experience, or how much time you have. I’m passionate about getting people in the kitchen and creating easy, simple Italian inspired dishes to benefit your body, mind and soul.

Cooking can be perceived as a chore but I want to show you how fun and easy it can really be. Who says eating healthy should be boring!?

Let’s get this #homecookmovement started!!

Vegetables in Southern Italian cooking recipes

Vegetables are at the heart of southern Italian cooking. Every summer in Puglia, I walk past the many local traders on my daily walk to the beach, who sell fresh vegetables out the back of their Fiat Panda or on the side of the road on a fold out table. Everything from root veggies, large foliage greens, bright coloured peppers, sweet smelling tomatoes, fat deep purple aubergines and so much more, all grown on their local land. These vegetables are organic as organic can be and at prices you could only wish to find in your local supermarket here in the UK. It’s not a surprise that vegetables are such a key part of their Pugliese diet and important Italian cooking ingredients. 

A great example of such cooking is “Caponata”, a beautiful collection of summer vegetables delicately combined together with dry oregano, a drop of acidity and a handful of olives.

This dish is so versatile. It can be served as an antipasti dish, served on the side to complement a lovely slice of pan fried white fish or make it the hero of your dish. I recently discovered that serving this with a crunchy skinned jacket potato is a totally winning combination. “Britalian” cooking at its best.

Let’s make the vegetable caponata!

Ingredients for the caponata recipe

• olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 courgettes, diced
• 1 aubergine, diced
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 12-15 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tbsp black pitted olives
• pinch of dry oregano
• salt
• white balsamic vinegar/white wine vinegar

Directions for the caponata

1. First, drizzle and heat some olive oil in a pan. Fry the garlic in olive oil on a low/medium heat until softened.

2. Add the courgettes and cook for a couple of minutes.

3. Then add the aubergine and cook for a five minutes.

4. Add the pepper. Cook all the vegetables until they have softened.

5. Then add the tomatoes and cook with the other vegetables for 10 minutes

6. When the vegetables have cooked, take the pan off the heat. Add the olives, oregano, salt and a few drops of wine vinegar.

7. Allow the dish to reach to room temperature before serving.

Did you like my Caponata?

I have created for you the Tiny Italian e-cookbook! A selection of rustic Italian recipes for a healthy start to the year.

An e-cookbook of gorgeous quick and easy Italian recipes and dishes to download for free on my blog The Tiny italian. Subscribe and you will be directed to the e-cookbook. Save the link. That’s simple!