My recently posted recipe for caponata has sparked lots of interest and reminiscences. I remembered a variation that included red and yellow peppers and have tracked it down to a recipe in Simon Hopkinson’s Week In Week Out; another of SH’s recipes with an excellent pedigree as it came from Toni Vianello’s restaurant, l’Osteria, in Paris. This is SH’s take on that ‘famously good dish of stewed aubergines’.

It is great that so much sounds rustic and ‘thickly sliced’; I am not even sure it is necessary to peel the celery but give the recipe more or less as SH does. You may wish to replace the water and tomato purée for fresh, skinned, tomatoes which will take a little longer to cook.

2 large aubergines, peeled and thickly sliced into half rounds
Salt
1 large red onion, peeled, halved and thickly sliced
4 celery sticks, peeled, halved lengthways and sliced into small lengths
1 small red pepper, halved lengthways, de-seeded and thickly sliced
1 small yellow pepper, halved lengthways, de-seeded and thickly sliced
5-6 tbsp olive oil
100ml water
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 heaped tbsp raisins
About 12 green olives, pitted and halved
1 heaped tbsp capers, drained and lightly squeezed dry
2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
Freshly ground white pepper
1 heaped tbsp pine nuts, gently heated in a frying pan until golden brown.

Spread the aubergines out on a kitchen surface and season generously with salt. Gather up the slices and mingle them in a colander. Place the colander on a plate and leave the aubergines for 40 minutes to ‘exude’ their juices.

Meanwhile, using a frying pan on a gentle heat, separately, and adding more oil as necessary, stew the onion, celery, red and yellow peppers. Finally fry the washed and dried aubergine slices. Place all five vegetables in a bowl and mingle together.

Again using the frying pan, add the water, vinegar, sugar, tomato purée and raisins. Bring to the boil and simmer for several minutes until lightly thickened and the raisins have plumped.

Stir in the olives, capers and anchovies and tip the contents into the bowl of vegetables. Add white pepper and the pine nuts and check for salt. Add more olive oil if you think it necessary and serve at room temperature with slices of rustic bread.