The green apple goes savoury

This recipe was first published in the June edition of Cibus magazine.

As part of my contribution in Cibus magazine I chose to prepare sides to accompany the grill, a popular cooking method at this time of the year. Since I love the sweet twist fruit gives to savoury food, I opted to include fruit in these recipes. The first recipe I proposed was caponata with green apples, a dish which was born after I tasted a similar one in a Sicilian restaurant some years ago. The other fruity and savoury recipes will follow in separate posts.

Green apple caponata

Ingredients for 4 persons:

• 500gr green apples
• 100gr green olives, pitted
• 100gr capers
• 150gr celery sticks
• 1 onion
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tblsp sugar
• 2 tblsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tblsp sultanas
• 1 tblsp pine nuts
• Salt & pepper
• Lemon

Rinse the capers and olives under running water and leave to drain. Finely chop the onion and the celery sticks. Peel the apples, cut into medium-sized cubes and put in some cold water with a few drops of lemon juice.

In a saucepan, pour some extra virgin olive oil, add the onion and celery and fry on low heat for 5 minutes. Add the capers and olives and keep cooking for further 5 minutes, adding some cold water, if necessary. Pour in the chopped tomatoes and leave on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Drain the apples from the water, pat dry with a kitchen towel and add to the sauce. Keep cooking until the apples become soft. Finally add the sugar and vinegar and leave to evaporate for a minute or two. Add the sultanas, pine nuts, salt and pepper. Leave to cool and serve.