Caponata alla Siciliana


Today I am going to share a really special Sicilian dish. Caponata takes on many forms in Italy. Sicilian Caponata refers to a cooked vegetable salad made from chopped fried eggplant seasoned with crushed garlic, sweetened vinegar and olive oil. Occasionally fried green bell peppers, pine nuts or raisins are added for variation. The Caponata recipe I make is a baked version and is accompanied perfectly with couscous. So, let’s get right into it. This is what you need:

3 large eggplants – sliced 8mm – 10mm thick
Capers
Parmesan cheese – grated
Cooking oil

Basic Napolitano sauce:

1 large onion – chopped
Garlic (to taste)
3 tins whole chopped & peeled tomatoes
1 green pepper - chopped
6 tbs sugar
Balsamic vinegar
Basil / Oregano chopped
Olive oil

Start the Napolitano sauce by putting the chopped onion garlic and green pepper in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the tomato, sugar, a few small glugs of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and herbs and mix together. Season well with salt and pepper, cover and allow to cook through gently.

Now, heat the cooking oil in a deep frying pan and start frying the eggplant. When the slices become soft, that’s when they are ready. Place on absorbent paper to drain the oil.

By now, the Napolitano sauce should be well on its way. Give it a taste to make sure that it has good flavour and adjust accordingly. Blend the sauce either in a blender or with a hand-held to make smooth, then add the capers and put on low heat for a further 10 minutes.

For the final step, you need to lay the fried eggplant in a casserole dish almost as if you were making lasagna. In fact, think of the eggplant as the sheets of lasagna! So, it’s a layer of eggplant followed by some Napolitano and grated Parmesan, then a layer of eggplant….get it?

Finally pop it in the oven and bake for about 20mins. When its done, take out of the oven and allow to stand for about 10 minutes before serving with couscous. This is real “Sicilia in Bocca” (taste of Sicily).

I was going through a box of old photos and came across this one of me when I was 5 doing something quite rare. Eating (or should I say my lack of) was a problem my mother had to contend with during my early childhood years. Of course all of that has changed and, today, I need little motivation when it comes to tucking into a good meal. So let’s take a closer look at the picture…what is it in my plate that is prompting me to eat with such enthusiasm and vigour? Well I can tell you that it is the same thing in that plate that gets a similar reaction out of my similarly fickle 7 year old son. It’s good old-fashioned Spaghetti Bolognese.

Some interesting trivia about this meat-based pasta sauce is that it originated in Bologna, Italy. Bolognese sauce is sometimes taken to be a tomato sauce, but authentic recipes have only a small amount of tomato concentrate. The traditional recipe, registered in 1982 by the Bolognese delegation of Accademia Italiana della Cucina, confines the ingredients to beef, pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, meat broth, white wine, and milk or cream. However, different recipes, even in the Bolognese tradition, make use of chopped pork or pork sausage, while chicken, rabbit, or goose liver may be added along with the beef or veal for special occasions, and today many use both butter and olive oil for cooking the soffritto of small amounts of celery, carrot and onion. Prosciutto, mortadella, or porcini mushrooms, when in season, may be added to further enrich the sauce. Milk is frequently used in the early stages of cooking to render the meat flavours more "delicate" but cream is very rare in the everyday recipe and only a very little would be used. According to Marcella Hazan in "The Classic Italian Cookbook", the longer Ragù alla Bolognese cooks the better; a 5 or 6 hour simmer is not unusual. But we are not lazing around in Italy. We are normal people with jobs, kids, pets and other things that fill our lives, so here is a quicker version that’s just as tasty. You will need:

2 onions - chopped
2 large garlic cloves - crushed
100g chopped pancetta (substitute lean bacon)
1kg lean beef mince
2 large carrots - diced
2 cups beef stock
1 cup red wine
3 cans diced tomatoes
3 tbs sugar
Handful of basil, origano

Start by heating some olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and cook the onions, garlic carrots and pancetta for 4-5 minutes. Increase the heat to high, gradually adding the mince and the herbs and cook until well browned. Add the beef stock, red wine, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and sugar. Bring to the boil, and then reduce the heat to low. Simmer partially covered for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Don’t forget to season well with salt and pepper. Serve with your choice of pasta, however traditionally spaghetti would be the pasta of choice.

Last night we had a friend visit us for supper. He is vegetarian and I wanted to make something really special that would satisfy everyone. So I popped into Woolies and milled through the aisles and slowly my meal took shape.

Gnocchi with Mushrooms & Gorgonzola



Here’s what you need:

1 medium sized onion – finely chopped
Portabellini Mushrooms – chopped
Oyster Mushrooms – chopped
1 chili – chopped very finely
1 clove garlic - crushed
Gorgonzola Cheese
Half tub of cream
Half glass white wine

Okay, start with the onions and garlic. Place them in a large wok-style pan and pour in the wine. Place on the heat and allow to simmer and reduce. Toss in the mushrooms and chili and a few large glugs of olive oil and fold around using two wooden spatulas. In the meantime, you should have a large pot of salted water boiling. Gnocchi only takes about two minutes to cook so you need to be quick! Now throw the cream into the mushrooms, constantly folding gently – add a little butter to make all the ingredients glisten. Finally add the Gorgonzola. Break it up in your hands and mix it in. The sauce should thicken up nicely and take on a most fantastic aroma. Add a few twists of sea salt and black pepper to taste and that’s it! By now the gnocchi should be rising to the top of the water which indicates that they are ready. Scoop them out of the water straight into the wok and incorporate them into the sauce evenly. Don’t toss around too much or they may break up. Serve in a bowl with a few leaves of rocket on top and a sprinkling of Parmesan. You are going to love this one!

I am going to share a couple of my absolute all time favorite pasta dishes. The thing I love about pasta is that it’s so quick and easy to prepare and always makes a great supper for the whole family. Just add a quick rocket salad, a fresh ciabatta loaf and a glass of red and your meal is done. Pronto!

Pasta Aglio Olio con Rucola e Funghi



This is a great dish to make if you want a quick meal. It literally takes as long to make as the pasta takes to boil so let’s get right into it. First up, get all the ingredients prepared:

1 clove garlic – crushed
2 handfuls of mushrooms – chopped
2 handfuls of fresh wild rocket
1 chili – optional (but recommended)
Lots of olive oil
Grated parmesan
Black pepper

Right, now that you have all the ingredients ready, get your pasta (fettuccini, spaghetti or tagliatele) into a large pot of salted boiling water. The Sicilian grandmothers have a very special secret as to how much salt one must put in the water. They will tell you it must be as salty as the sea. Now, pour the oil into a large pan or wok. Throw in the garlic, mushrooms and chili and toss around, coating the ingredients evenly in the oil. Allow the natural moisture in the mushrooms to evaporate but don’t overcook – the mushrooms must still be firm in the mouth. Turn off the heat and throw in the rocket. Allow the heat of the ingredients to wilt the rocket gently. By now the pasta should be perfectly “al dente” (that is not too hard, but also, not soft and overdone), toss into a colander and quickly throw back into the pot. The idea is to not let all the water drain which could make the pasta sticky and dry. Gently toss in the mushrooms and coat the pasta evenly – if need be, throw in a few more glugs of olive oil. Serve on a large white plate with some freshly chopped rocket, parmesan and black pepper. Buon Appetito!