Recipe - Red Pepper Caponata

1 Onion; thinly cut or sliced up
1 Red bell pepper; cored and
chopped
3 Garlic cloves thinly cut or sliced up ;
and
1 Garlic clove finely chopped
3 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil; plus
1 tablespoon Olive oil; if desired
Salt; to taste
5 Ripe tomatoes with juice;
fresh or canned
One fourth Jalapeno chile; seeded and
minced
1 pn Cumin
1 pn Turmeric
1 pn Ginger
1 pn Saffron threads
1/8 teaspoon Fennel seeds OR 1/4bulb
fennel; minced
2 tablespoon Sugar; or as desired
1 tablespoon Drained capers; or more to
taste
10 Mediterranean olives; green
or black, pitted and cut
into halves
2 tablespoon Raisins
3 tablespoon Lemon juice; or more to
taste
1 tablespoon Chopped fresh marjoram
and/or parsley

Lightly saute the onion, peppers and cut or sliced up garlic in the olive oil until
they soften; sprinkle with salt as they cook. Add the tomatoes, jalapeno,
cumin, turmeric, ginger, saffron, fennel and sugar; cook for 10 minutes or
so, until thickened and saucelike.

Stir in the capers, olives, raisins and lemon juice. Taste for seasoning;
you want a sweet sourspicy balance. Adjust the sugar, lemon juice and
spices accordingly.

Stir in the marjoram and/or parsley and the reserved chopped garlic, taste
for seasoning and set aside to cool.

Serve as a sauce with the chicken, or as a spread for crostini. Serves 4.

PER (4th) SERVING: 185 calories, 2 g protein, 21 g carbohydrate, 12 g fat
(2 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 281 mg sodium, 3 g fiber.

Excerpt from SF Chronicle 05/06/98 Food Section see www.sfgate.com ; Busted
by HANNEMAN

Notes: "This is a variation on the classic Sicilian recipe, using peppers
instead of eggplant. A caponata is sweet and sour, and very savory, much
like a contemporary European chutney. This one is spicy, too a small dab
on the citrusspiced chicken breasts enlivens it brilliantly."

Recipe by: Marlena Spieler, San Francisco Chronicle (1998)

Posted to MCRecipe Digest by Kitpath phannema@wizard.ucr.edu on May 07,
1998