Elvira’s Aunt’s Eggplant Dip
Facebook is many things. One thing it is is a bridge to people I would never know or meet. One such person is Elvira Salvati. I “met” Elvira in a food group and we started chatting about food, Italian food, and then things. We share an appreciation for simple, well cooked food that tastes good. Sometimes, tasting better than it looks, but that’s as it ought to be.
We discussed her offering a recipe to the blog. She’s an agreeable person, and found one from her Great Aunt Bicia for an eggplant dip.
Elvira sent me the recipe and a note about it and her aunt. She wrote
My great aunt Bicia was a good looking woman who spent her entire life in a great house in the Gulf of Naples. She would play piano and would paint, and she was a wonderful cook. The following is her recipe “melanzane al funghetto”, roughly translated “eggplants at mushroom way”, very similar to Sicilian “caponata di melanzane” but slightly different (I would say lighter).
Melanzane al funghetto (Eggplant at mushroom way)
Simple is almost always best, and this is simple. Do not make the error of thinking simple is plain or uninteresting. Simple just allows all the flavors of the dish to speak for themselves and make the whole even better.
Ingredients
Melanzane al Funghetto (Eggplant at mushroom way)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil, q.b.* As much as is needed but not more than that.
- 1 Kilo Eggplant 2.2 #
- 1 each Onion I prefer red, but white is fine too
- 6 oz Crimini mushrooms, rinsed and sliced You may pick whichever mushroom you prefer
- 2-3 each Very ripe plum tomatoes Round will work
- 1 stalk Celery, 1/4 inch dice, boiled and cooled
- 1 T Non-pariel capers, soaked and rinsed Salt packed have better flavor, but are not widely available
- 1 T Chopped Picholine olives Any green olive from your grocer's deli
- 1 oz Red wine vinegar
- 2 T Granulated sugar
- Salt and pepper q.b.
- Cooked, cooled rice or spaghetti
Instructions
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Cut the eggplant into medium dice (1/2 to 3/4 of an inch). Peel or don't is your preference.
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Sauté the eggplant in a pan large enough to hold it. Two batches might be necessary. Heat the pan on medium heat, add enough extra virgin olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. When is starts to become fragrant, carefully add enough eggplant to the pan to form only one layer of cubes. The eggplant will absorb the oil like a sponge, and risk burning. Burn is bad, but a wee bit of color is okay. You may need to add a few small additions of oil to keep the eggplant coated. When the eggplant becomes more cooked, the sponge will release the oil. This is what eggplant does.
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Keep cooking over medium heat until all the eggplant pieces are cooked. Remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl and cook the remaining eggplant. Repeat that cooking process until that eggplant is also well cooked.
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In the same pan, sauté the onions until they turn translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook until the water runs out and the pan is dry again. Add the celery and allow to start to color just a bit. Add the tomatoes and bring it all to a boil.
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Add the capers, olives, vinegar and sugar. Bring it back to a boil and then simmer two minutes. Add the sauce to the bowl of eggplant, stir well and cool until fully chilled. Adjust seasoning when cold.
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Serve over rice or spaghetti as a cold salad. It would also be an appropriate condiment to a main course or a dip for focaccia.
Recipe Notes
- q.b. stands for quanto basta, and means use what you need but not more than you need. It grabs right at the core of basic cooking without words on a page, which is ironic given where we are.
It is a difficult statement to make that any culture always or never does this or that. It has been my experience that Italians tend to prefer bitter flavors with other flavors for a broader palate feel. What you prefer is entirely up to you and the best way, in my opinion, you can honor the traditions of any food you are cooking is make it as well as you can with as much of the spirit of that culture as you can, but when it is made, it must taste good to you. The best way to honor anyone's food is make it taste good.
Here are the directions as sent to me by Elvira. I am including them just to show how recipes of old were written (not on computer) but also to share her vociferous commentary about how and how not to serve the dish.
Cut eggplants (1 Kilo that’s 2.2 pound) in small cubes and fry them. For the sauce: fry lightly 1 onion with a couple of tomatoes cut in cubes. Add some pieces of celery previously boiled. Let the dip acquire flavor on the fire. Add capers, green olives, 2 spoons of vinegar and 2 spoons of sugar. Go on cooking the dip for some minutes. Add the dip to the eggplants. It must be served cold: the more it rests, the more it tastes. It is perfect in summer with rice as well as pasta (for pasta I mean spaghetti or penne) as a cold salad.
NEVER tagliatelle
What good is Italian condimenti without focaccia? Well, I’m sure it is good, but it is better with bread. Here’s an easy and excellent recipe. Plan on a few days for the full development of flavor.
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