Rosaria comes from a family of fishermen and this is her grandmother's recipe for caponata, a great all-in-one meal for the summer months. Omit the swordfish and the dish is vegan; fish or no fish, the key to making a great caponata is to cook the ingredients separately and combine them. This maximises the flavours. Make more than you need and serve the leftovers the next day - it will be even more delicious.
2 medium eggplant/aubergine, 2 large bell peppers, chopped into fork-friendly chunks, fried separately in oil, drained, excess oil removed.
one head of celery, sliced and simmered in water until tender, drained
2 onions, chopped, softened in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, to which one adds a 140g (ie small) tin of tomato concentrate. Use the tin to measure out white wine vinegar. If you didn't use a tin of concentrate, add 70ml and be prepared to adjust the acidity. 200ml of tomato passata.
3 tablespoons toasted, chopped almonds (don't buy the ready chopped packets, it will taste much better to do this with plain whole almonds and toast them yourself). 3 teaspoons sugar (or more)
1 tablespoon capers, soaked, drained. 100g green olives, pitted and sliced. salt and pepper.
600g of swordfish, tuna or capone aka mahi mahi or dolphin fish. one glass of white wine.

One of the stories about the origin of caponata is the Sicilian aristocracy (centuries ago) used to make this agro-dolce dish with capone (Coryphaena hippurus) and then when the eggplant was introduced from the New World, the dish was adapted - as eggplant was cheaper than the fish. Rosaria's fishing family uses both.

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