Eggplant Caponata

I seem to always be in search of easy but interesting appetizers - things that have great flavour but that do not take a lot of strange ingredients or a lot of time and effort to make.  I try to avoid things that might scare a crowd or those I don't cook for often, yet are different enough to keep me interested.

Today I decided to try an Eggplant Caponata.  Two of the most popular and highly rated recipes I came across were those from Mario Batali and, of course, Ina Garten.  I liked Ina's use of roasted red peppers and capers - two of my favourite ingredients - and Mario's use of cocoa powder to give depth of flavour, so I combined both ideas to end up with the below recipe.  The result is fresh tasting, vegetarian and really required little effort beyond the initial roasting and some preparatory peeling and chopping.

I have more friends coming over next weekend, so I think I am going to do Mario's version up and do a comparison.

Eggplant Caponata
(mostly adapted from Ina Garten)

1 large eggplant or 2 medium sized ones
1 teaspoon olive oil
3/4 cup green olives, pitted and chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and finely diced
1-2 large or 3-4 small cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
3 tablespoons Italian parsley, minced
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
Juice of half a lemon
2 tablespoons capers
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Meanwhile, line a baking pan with foil.  Cut eggplants in half lengthwise.  Rub foil and eggplant with olive oil.  Poke eggplants with a fork all over.  Place eggplants cut side down on foil lined pan. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes until eggplant is very soft and can be pierced easily with a knife.

Toast pine nuts in a shallow pan until slightly brown, being sure to keep tossing in a pan so they don't burn - 2-3 minutes should be more than enough. Set aside to cool.

While eggplant is baking, prepare other ingredients if you haven't done so already - chop onion, roasted red pepper, olives, garlic and parsley.  Place these ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.  Don't over process - you want to retain some texture.

Once eggplant is soft, remove from oven and allow to cool until easy to handle.  Scoop out eggplant pulp removing any large sections of seed, roughly chop, and place in a separate bowl.  Discard skin.

Add eggplant to bowl of food processor and pulse to combine again.  Add red pepper flakes, tomato paste, cocoa, salt and half of the pine nuts and capers.   Pulse again to combine.

Return mixture to a mixing bowl and stir in remaining pine nuts and capers.  Add lemon juice and red wine vinegar and stir to combine.

Serve with toasted pita wedges or fresh made or prepared crostini.

Please excuse the less than stellar food photography this week.  My food photographer is on vacation and now making demands for a raise.  Or maybe even just a salary.  I guess paying in food no longer is enough.  Hopefully, he'll be back on the job soon!