Kazia Jankowski - big world | small kitchen

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Thinking of Pan-Roasted Eggplant Caponata and Trader Joe’s

My family has a California vacation ritual—and it has little to do with the typical west coast holiday routine. There are no swimsuits, star-glazing binoculars, or Disneyland tickets in our ritual. Instead, we pack light and follow this straight-forward plan:

Leave one quarter of your suitcase empty, upon landing find the nearest Trader Joe’s, and buy until your suitcase bursts at the seams.

We follow this ritual, because we live in Colorado, and like many other Coloradoans, we lament that the nearest Trader Joe’s is across state lines. In Colorado, we spend our happy hours, eating non-Trader Joe’s almonds and drinking non-Trader Joe’s wine, pining after Two Buck Chuck and cheap nut mixes. In the Mile High City, our party conversations center on why TJ’s won’t open in our state. Is it our antiquated liquor laws? Or our distribution difficulties? We mingle, and we wonder.

That’s why the California ritual is so important. In the spring, I brought back five pounds of olive tapenade and red pepper spread. We replenished in the fall, when my parents went to Yosemite and came back with bags of golden dried apricots, boxes of multigrain crackers, tubs of chocolate covered blueberries, and sacred jars of eggplant caponata. The last, we saved for Christmas, and now, sitting in my cupboard, I have one jar of olive tapenade left—and no trip to California planned. The feeling in my stomach has been beyond nervous butterflies.

Recently, though, a recipe for eggplant caponata came across my desk—and I had one of those euphoric moments, like when you crack the code on an impossible puzzle. I might not have a Trader Joe’s in Colorado, but that couldn’t keep me from making Trader Joe’s products. So I went right out and bought myself four deep purple, oblong eggplants and began chopping.

That night, I made the Sicilian vegetable salad for dinner. I pan roasted the eggplant; sweat the diced onions, fennel bulb, and tomatoes; and mixed in golden raisins and toasted pine nuts. I ate the roasted eggplant medley, the sweet sister of French ratatouille, alone with tear of baguette—and it was all so darn delicious, with its sweet, earthy tastes, that I made it again last weekend. That time, though, I served it as an appetizer, on crispy garlic toasts. I piled the chunky vegetable mixture high on the thin slices of broiled baguette—and even though snow was falling in Vail, we tasted rustic, Italian countryside.

I’ll have to make this appetizer again. Next time for my family. I wouldn’t want them to continue thinking that we’re only one jar of olive tapenade away from a desperate trip to California. We have pan-roasted eggplant caponata to keep us happy until we choose to go west, and when we do, just think of all the extra room in our suitcases.

Pan-roasted Eggplant Caponata
Serves 4 (as entrée) or 8 (as appetizer)
Adapted from Marc Vetri, Amis

This lightly sweet, Sicilian eggplant salad is super versatile. Serve yourself a generous portion and a hunk of baguette, and you have a dinner akin to ratatouille. Dish it up next to a roast, and you have a hearty, vegetable salad. Or try my favorite way, and place a bowl of eggplant caponata on a tray with crispy, garlic toasts, and you have an addictive appetizer.

To make your own garlic toasts (technically bruschetta), simply cut a baguette into ¼-inch slices, place under the broiler for 8 minutes, flipping the toasts half way through. When toasts are out of the oven, rub with olive oil and a clove of garlic.

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
2 medium eggplants, cut into ½-inch dice
½ medium fennel bulb, cut into ¼-inch dice
¼ medium red onion, cut into ¼-inch dice
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ cup diced canned tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
1/3 cup golden raisins
½ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ teaspoons red wine vinegar

Pour ¼ cup canola oil into a large skillet over medium-high heat. Heat until shimmering, but not smoking. Add half the eggplant, in a single layer, and cook, turning every few minutes, until deep, golden brown on all sides, about 15 minutes. Remove eggplant and drain on a paper towel. Return skillet to medium-high heat, and add additional ¼ cup oil and repeat with remaining eggplant.

While the second batch of eggplant is cooking, heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add two tablespoons oil, along with fennel, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender, but not browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Add tomato, crushing as it cooks.

Return all eggplant to large skillet over medium heat. Create an opening in the center of the pan. Add fennel mixture, pine nuts, and raisins to empty center and gently fold in eggplant, careful not to break up the vegetable.

Remove pan from heat and stir in salt, pepper, and vinegar. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in refrigerator, in an airtight container, for up to three days.

For a printable recipe, click here.

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