Pigeon Cottage Kitchen

There is a wonderful Italian restaurant in London called Il Portico, a favourite with the Pigeon Cottage gang, and we had this fab starter there last time we went – aubergine caponata & stracciatella di burrata. Caponata is a very famous Sicilian dish and I’ve been wanting to make it since we went there on holiday so, spurred on by Il Portico, I took to my library to track down a recipe. I had several as it happened so this is my ‘best of breed’ version. It’s great warm or cold, on its own, topped with shredded mozzarella or burrata, or as a side dish with roast or grilled chicken. Enjoy!

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 large or 2 small aubergines
• 3 tbsps light olive oil
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 celery sticks, cut into 1cm pieces
• 4 tbsps red wine vinegar
• 1 x 400g can of Mutti chopped tomatoes
• 1 x 100g pot of sunblush tomatoes (not traditional but works beautifully)
• 1 tsp golden caster sugar
• 1 tbsps capers, drained
• 75g pitted geen olives, quartered length-wise
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1 ball of burrata

To make…

• Cut the aubergine into 1.5cm chunks. Heat 2tbsps of light olive oil in a large wide-based frying pan. Fry the aubergine until soft and golden. Lift out and set aside.
• Add the remaining light olive oil to the pan and sauté the onion until soft and lightly browned. Add the celery and stir and sauté for another 5 minutes.
• Pour in the vinegar. Leave to bubble, it should evaporate quite quickly.
• Pour in the tomatoes, sugar and a good twist of salt and pepper.
• Cover and leave to simmer for 20 minutes until the celery is tender but still has some bite.
• Uncover and stir in the olives, capers, sunblush tomatoes and aubergines. Taste, adjust the seasoning if necessary. Drizzle the extra-virgin olive oil. Top with torn burrata.
• Serve cold or at room temperature.

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