Eggplant Caponata

Chances are, if you've ever had eggplant caponata, it was served on crostini as an appetizer. But it's also great served warm or room temperature as a side dish. Or with a nice crusty bread as a vegetarian meal. And it can even be spread on a sandwich, stuffed into a pita, tossed with pasta… The tangy sweet-and-sour melange of eggplant, tomatoes, and briny olives plays well with summer staples like grilled bread, grilled chicken, and grilled...well, anything.

Here's a caponata as quick and simple as it is tasty - from Kyle Philips, guide http://italianfood.about.com/. Other ingredients that are often added are raisins, or currents, olives and pine nuts.

1 pound eggplant
3/4 pound ripe tomatoes
4 large peppers (red and yellow make for pleasant color contrasts)
1/4 pound moderately sharp caciocavallo or provolone, diced
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
Olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste
Basil

Begin by dicing the eggplant and leaving the pieces in a colander for an hour, liberally sprinkled with salt, to draw out their bitter juices [I would skip this step - I don't find today's eggplant bitter]. Seed the peppers and cut them into strips, chop and seed the tomatoes. Preheat the oven to 375 F (180C)

Rinse the salt off the diced eggplant, pat the pieces dry, and combine them with the other ingredients in an oven-proof dish. Sprinkle liberally with olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste, and bake for a half hour. Stir everything around, mixing in the half cup of dry white wine, and bake another half hour.

Yield: 4-6 servings caponata.