THE MANY VERSIONS OF CAPONATE and grilled food

Cooking and eating is greatly influenced by the seasonal variations in weather and the available seasonal produce.

Abundant in summer are eggplants, tomatoes, zucchini and peppers/capsicum and I enjoy making the most of these vibrant ingredients during this time.  Summer is also a time for grilled food that adds both char and depth of flavor to food.

Celebrating what’s in season enhances the taste of our dishes and allows us to connect more closely with nature’s cycles.

There are recipes in this post for grilled sardines and squid. Also grilled zucchini,  eggplants and peppers and a version of caponata as baked in the oven. A celery caponata makes a perfect and easy accompaniment for grilled food.

I particularly like grilled fish, especially sardines.

And squid tastes fantastic grilled, the charring adds so much flavour and character.  The tentacles are good too and apart from having a more intense flavour they offer a different texture. Squid will not need much cooking, especially if it has been marinading beforehand for an hour or so. Cook the squid quickly – about 5 mins on one side, flip it over and cook the other side for less. The marinade can be as uncomplicated as a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and a few herbs of your choice. To the marinade this time, I also added a splash of white wine.

A simple drizzle of good, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice could be sufficient as a finishing dressing, especially it you are accompanying the squid with some flavourful side dishes.

There are also two accompanying,  Sicilian green, traditional sauces  –  Salmoriglio and Zogghiu to accompany all grilled food.

As for the accompanying dishes, I made two different Sicilian caponate (plural of caponata) and a green salad.

Caponate also make good starters and they taste better if cooked days before, making them an easy option. They are always served at room temperature: take them out of the fridge about 30 mins before serving.

Caponata as cooked in the oven

I cooked one of the caponate in the oven and used eggplants, onions, celery and peppers/capsicums. To make it different,  apart from baking the vegetables, I also added fennel seeds, plenty of basil and garlic as well as the customary green olives, capers, sugar, vinegar and pine nuts.

I definitely prefer the traditional method of sautéing  of each of the vegetables in hot oil because although I roasted the vegetables at high temperatures, they released far too many juices. I drained the liquid and evaporated in a saucepan and then pour it back into the oven tray. In the end it did taste good, but the flavour took far too long to fix.

Cool the caponata. Place the basil and toasted pine nuts on the caponata at the time of serving.

The caponata in the photo below is made with celery.  This caponata is very quick to cook and the addition of sultanas accentuate the sweet taste. The vinegar (present in all caponate) provides the sour taste and this cooked salad tastes very much like a pickle.

This celery caponata has the addition of toasted almonds rather than pine nuts.

The celery and onions are the only two vegetable ingredients and they can be sautéed in the same pan at the same time. Once they are slightly softened, add the drained and plump sultanas that have been soaking in water for an hour or so.  Add a little sugar and once the sugar begins to caramelise, add a splash of vinegar and evaporate.

Friends also enjoy the chocolate version of caponata. Pieces of dark chocolate are added in the final stages of cooking the eggplant version of caponata that is characteristic of Palermo and its region.

The caponata that includes peppers is typical of Catania and its region.

GRILLED CALAMARI (CALAMARI ‘NTA BRACI (Sicilian) – CALAMARI ALLA BRACE (Italian)

SARDINES, grilled or barbecued with Sicilian dressings

SALAMURRIGGHIU – SALMORIGLIO (Dressing made with oil, lemon and oregano)

ZOGGHIU (Sicilian pesto/dressing made with garlic, parsley and mint)

ANTIPASTO – GRILLED SUMMER VEGETABLES AND A SCOOP OF SALADS

CAPONATA FROM PALERMO (made with eggplants)

CAPONATA Catanese (from Catania) made easy with photos

CAPONATA DI NATALE (Christmas, winter caponata made with celery, almonds and sultanas)

For more recipes for different versions of Caponata, use the search button.

SARDINES, grilled or barbecued with Sicilian dressings

Many people do not like the taste of sardines, they find them too fishy. Being an oily fish they are strong flavoured, and like other oily fish (for example salmon and mackerel) they are rich in omega-3s – this could provide enough incentive to begin eating them and learning to enjoy them. Because of their oil content the taste becomes even fisher if they are left so they need to be eaten fresh. When they are very fresh I like to eat them raw marinaded in lemon juice and olive oil.

FILETTI DI SARDINE CON VINO E LIMONE (Sardines with wine)

Sardines are a resilient species and with favourable conditions they reproduce successfully and in large numbers; they are therefore sustainable.

One of the ways that I really enjoy to eat oily fish is by grilling on a griddle or char-grilling in a BBQ. Presented with a simple dressing that contains lemon juice (for example the Sicilian Salmoriglio (salt, oregano, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil) they taste less fishy.

I also like to present them with Zogghiu (a Sicilian pesto-type accompaniment strongly flavoured with mint). I say ‘pesto-type’ because I  mostly use a food processor and do not pound the ingredients with a mortar and pestle (pesto = from pestare = to pound using a mortar and pestle) .

 

Sardines are small fish with soft flesh and therefore require gentle handling and short cooking times. I only turn them once when they are being cooked, whether I am barabecuing, grilling or pan-frying. If I am baking them (as in Beccafico- stuffed with Sicilan/ Arab flavours ) or cooking them in liquid I do not turn them at all.

Sardinia – sardines…. is there a connection? Maybe… sardines were once very plentiful around the island of Sardinia and it is thought that their name is likely  to have originated from ancient times.

Cooking on a BBQ is simple. This time I cooked them on a griddle lined with foil.

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To clean sardines:

Remove the scales by scraping with your fingers against the grain (towards the head) and back again – the flesh is too delicate to use a knife.

Use pointy scissors or a sharp pointy knife to cut the fish open along the belly from tail to head.

Gently  push the innards out of the body.

Gently rinse the fish inside and out under the tap with gentle- running water, being careful not to break the skin

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INGREDIENTS

sardines, left whole, scaled and gutted

a sprinkling of salt and some extra virgin olive oil and to brush over the sardines

PROCESSES

Wash the sardines and pat dry – be gentle.

Sprinkle with a little salt, brush them with a little olive oil and grill quickly over high heat in a griddle plate.

Cook them 3–4 minutes on either side – turn only once very carefully. The skin will be slightly charred- this will also help to mask the oily taste.