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cooking the Xmas books

This is the first outing of one of my culinary Xmas presents.
You can never go wrong with Rose and Ruth although you might argue that now having five books from them is verging on overload, slightly obsessional even.

Anyway here is a sunday night experimentation with this Sicilian classic ... the interesting twist is the slight cooking of the celery before adding to the mix

Caponata

There are as many ways to make caponata as there are cooks in Sicily. The basis of caponata is the popular aubergine, and the dish evolves according to what other vegetables you wish to include. All caponatas have wine vinegar as part of the seasoning and most include capers, olives and pine nuts.

This recipe has celery as its other strong flavour, which makes a light, refreshing version.

Serves 6
1 large round, pale aubergine, about 12cm in diameter, or 2 medium round, pale aubergines
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 whole heads of celery, with leaves
1 large red onion, peeled
2 ripe plum tomatoes, or 3 drained from a tin
Extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely sliced
2 dried red chillies, crumbled
3 tablespoons black Ligurian olives, stoned and kept whole
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed, then soaked in 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons mint leaves, washed
6 slices of sourdough bread

* Cut the aubergine into 1.5cm cubes and place in a colander. Sprinkle with sea salt and drain for 30 minutes. Wash off the salt and pat dry.

* Cut the tender white part of the celery into 2cm lengths. Put them into a pan, cover with water, add one teaspoon of sea salt and bring to the boil. ?Cook for three minutes, then drain. ?Cut the onion into fine slices and peel and core the tomatoes, then chop them into 1cm pieces.

* Heat three-four tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan, and add the aubergine pieces in batches so that they just cover the bottom of the pan. ?Fry over a medium high heat for about five minutes, turning the pieces over until brown on all sides. ?Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat this process – you may need to use extra olive oil if it has all been absorbed in the first batch.

* Wipe the pan clean and return it to the heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and the onion. Reduce the heat and gently soften the onion until it becomes golden; this will take 10 minutes. ?Add the garlic and celery, and continue to cook for a further five minutes, to combine the flavours. Season with pepper and crumble in the chillies. ?Add the tomato pieces and just let them warm up in the mixture, but not really cook, then stir in the aubergines. Cook all the vegetables together briefly for five minutes. Test for seasoning and stir in the olives, pine nuts and the capers including the vinegar they have been soaking in.

* Finally, chop the mint and stir it into the mixture with a drizzle of sweet extra virgin olive oil. Toast the bread on both sides to make bruschetta, and serve with the caponata.

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