{{Short description|Sicilian eggplant dish}} {{Distinguish|capponata}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox food | name = Caponata | image = Caponata (14049113982).jpg | image_size = | caption = | alternate_name = ''Capunata'' | country = Italy | region = Sicily | creator = | course = | type = Salad | served = | main_ingredient = Eggplant | minor_ingredient = Celery | variations = }}
'''Caponata''' (Sicilian: ''capunata'') is a Sicilian dish consisting of chopped, fried eggplant and other vegetables, seasoned with olive oil, tomato sauce, celery, olives, and capers, in an agrodolce (sweet and sour) sauce.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art221.htm |title=Caponata |access-date=2008-05-26 |last=Gangi |first=Roberta |year=2006 |publisher=Best of Sicily Magazine }}</ref>
Variants add carrots, bell peppers, potatoes, pine nuts, and raisins.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Shulman|first=Martha Rose|title=Caponata Recipe|url=https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016445-caponata|access-date=2020-07-03|website=NYT Cooking|language=en-US}}</ref> A Palermo version adds octopus, and an aristocratic recipe includes lobster and swordfish garnished with wild asparagus, grated dried tuna roe and shrimp.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://italianfood.about.com/od/eggplant/r/blr0049.htm |title=Caponata alla Siciliana-The Baroness of Carni's Caponata |access-date=2008-08-27 |last=Phillips |first=Kyle |archive-date=2017-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170119025256/http://italianfood.about.com/od/eggplant/r/blr0049.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> These are exceptions to the general rule of a sweet and sour cooked vegetable stew or salad. In Naples, similar dishes include sweet and sour eggplant.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Arthur |title=Naples at Table: Cooking in Campania |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1998 |isbn=0-06-018261-X |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/naplesattablecoo0000schw/page/328/ 329]}}</ref>
Caponata is historically associated with Sicily's Jewish community, and is sometimes still referred to as ''caponata alla giudia''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230421-caponata-alla-giudia-sicilian-aubergine-and-vegetable-stew |title=Caponata alla giudia: Sicilian aubergine and vegetable stew |access-date=2024-01-22 |last=Baur |first=Joe |year=2023 |publisher=BBC }}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cliffordawright.com/caw/food/entries/display.php/id/57/ |title=A History of the Sicilian Caponata |access-date=2008-05-26 |last=Wright |first=Clifford A. |year=2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604082451/http://www.cliffordawright.com/caw/food/entries/display.php/id/57/ |archive-date=2008-06-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The dishes described by Wright would suggest that in the past the Sicilian dish was similar to the Genoese ''capponata''.
==See also== {{Portal|Italy|Food}} * List of Sicilian dishes * List of stews * List of eggplant dishes ** Eggplant salads and appetizers
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} {{Cookbook|Caponata (Sicilian Eggplant and Vegetables)}} * [http://www.worldgluttony.com/sicilian-eggplant-caponata/ The traditional Sicilian eggplant caponata recipe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214104342/http://www.worldgluttony.com/sicilian-eggplant-caponata/ |date=2019-02-14 }}
{{Eggplant dishes}}
Category:Palermitan cuisine Category:Cuisine of Sicily Category:Tunisian cuisine Category:Eggplant dishes Category:Olive dishes