Caponata (Sicilian: capunata) is a Sicilian dish consisting of chopped fried eggplant/aubergine and other vegetables, seasoned with olive oil, tomato sauce, celery, olives, and capers, in an agrodolce sauce.[1]
Variants may add carrots, bell peppers, potatoes, pine nuts, and raisins.[2]
A Palermo version adds octopus, and an aristocratic recipe includes lobster and swordfish garnished with wild asparagus, grated dried tuna roe and shrimp.[3] These are exceptions to the general rule of a sweet and sour cooked vegetable stew or salad.
Today, caponata is typically used as a side dish for fish dishes and sometimes as an appetizer, but since the 18th century it has also been used as a main course.
Caponata is historically associated with Sicily's Jewish community, and is sometimes still referred to as caponata alla giudia.[4]
The etymology of the name is not reliably known. Some suggest it derives from the Catalan language, others that it comes from the caupone, the sailors' taverns.[5] The dishes described by Wright would suggest that in the past the Sicilian dish was similar to the Genoesecapponata.
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