♥ when life hands you an eggplant...

....make eggplant caponata.

so, the other day i bought an eggplant.

it was on sale, and i thought i would get a bit adventurous.

i have attempted to cook eggplant before and have been

disappointed with it being too hard, or too gross of a texture.

my uncle suggested i make eggplant caponata, a meal i have never had before

or even heard of for that matter. i tried this recipe and found it to be

surprisingly delightful.

ingredients

1/4 cup of golden raisins

6 cups of diced, peeled eggplant (about 1 lb)

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp olive oil

1 cup of chopped onion

2 minced garlic cloves

1 cup of diced, seeded plum tomato

1/4 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of red wine vinegar

1/4 cup of chopped, pitted kalamata olives

2 tsp capers

1/3 cup of chopped, fresh parsley

instructions

place raisins in bowl of hot water for 15 minutes. drain & set aside.

place eggplant in a colander. sprinkle with salt. toss well. drain 1 hour.

rinse eggplant and pat dry with paper towel.

heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet and saute eggplant until browned. set aside.

heat remaining olive oil and saute onion until golden. add garlic. add tomato.

add eggplant to the mixture and heat.

add sugar and vinegar and stir until it dissolves.

stir in raisins, olives and capers.

remove from heat. top with fresh parsley.

serve warm or at room temperature with crusty italian bread or pita.

(or in my case, elbow pasta! )