I’ve not made his particular recipe, but I’ve loved caponata ever since I was introduced to it at an Italian restaurant in Berlin, many moons ago. Their version is still my absolute standard, and every other iteration has to compete. Theirs was just eggplant, tomato, celery, raisins, toasted almonds and pine nuts. I’m not crazy about capers or olives in mine.
Frying the eggplant in batches makes a huge difference, and is far superior to baking it. I usually make a big batch for dinner parties, bc I don’t like frying in my kitchen too often. There are never any leftovers.
