Day 6: Lemon Relish, Grilled Swordfish and the Best Damn Caponata Ever

Before today I had no idea what a Caponata is. I thought it had something to do with roast vegetables, but turns out it is actually a warm vegetable salad, typically with eggplant, that has lots of spices, and a briny, sweet flavor. In class, our team made a butternut squash caponata that was so bomb. Pretty simple ingredients and method and so. much. flavor. So good that I made it again at home that night, and served with burrata and toasted sourdough bread.

Quick note on the toasted pine nuts - always roast nuts in the oven, at a super low heat! I’ve been doing this way wrong, and toasting them in a saucepan on the stove. Nuts have a lot of fat, which can burn quickly. Toasting them on the stove will cook the outside without getting to the inside, where all the delicious nutty flavor is.

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups diced butternut squash (½ inch dice)
• ¼ cup golden raisins
• Red wine vinegar
• ½ cup diced red onion
• ½ cup diced celery
• 1 tbsp sugar
• Chili flakes
• Cinnamon
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 tbsp pine nuts, lightly toasted
• 2 tbsp capers, rinsed
• 1 tbsp coarsely chopped parsley

Recipe:

1. Toss the butternut squash in olive oil and alt and roast at 400 degrees until tender.
2. Place the raisins in a small bowl and add just enough red vinegar so that it covers them halfway. Let sit while squash is roasting
3. Sauté onions in olive oil over low heat. Let them soften just a little bit and then add the celery and sugar, cooking until the celery has softened just a little.
4. Add the chili flakes and ¼ tsp cinnamon and cook for another minute. Add the roasted squash and tomato paste, and cook for two minutes. Remove from heat. Drain any remaining vinegar from the raisins and fold in the raisins, capers, pine nuts and parsley. Adjust seasoning and serve warm!

Lemon Relish

We also made this fabulous lemon relish, which, if you happen to love lemons as much as I do, you’ll want to put on everything.

Ingredients:

• Shallots
• Red wine vinegar
• Meyer lemons (you could use regular lemons, but don’t recommend these as they will be much more acidic)
• Parsley, roughly chopped
• Olive oil, salt and pepper

Method:

1. Slice your shallots thinly and put in a little bowl to soak in red wine vinegar for at least 15 minutes. This removes the raw onion flavor
2. Slice your lemons into very thin little triangles
3. About 10 minutes before you want to serve, drain the shallots and combine with lemons, parsley, a good glug of olive oil (as Chef Marc would say) and season generously with salt and pepper
4. Place atop EVERYTHING

In class, we topped the relish onto grilled swordfish.

I also preserved lemons! Quarter your lemons but keep them connected on the bottom to form a little sack. Pour salt all over it. Like literally, take a box of salt, and pour it into the lemon. Layer the lemons,pack with more salt, pour lemon juice on top, and let sit for 2-4 months.

Daily Tip: Soaking your shallots/ onions in vinegar will remove the raw onion bite, and just leave you with the delicious onion flavor! Try it in dressings/ relishes/ salsas. So great.