Melanzane a Scapici - Italian Pickled Eggplant

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Melanzane a Scapici - Italian Pickled Eggplant

 

1 large plump perfect eggplant, about 1 pound

Salt, q.b.

2 cups best-quality white-wine vinegar

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, q.b.*

6 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thin

1 1/4 t red pepper flakes, or to taste

1 T. dried oregano, or to taste

 

 

 

 

Wash and dry a 6-cup glass jar or crock and keep it handy. The container you use

should just hold the eggplant completely covered with oil.

 

Wash the eggplant and trim off the calyx (green stem end). With a vegetable

peeler, peel the eggplant lengthwise so that it has purple stripes every inch or

so.

 

Cut the eggplant into disks about 1/2 inch thick. Lightly salt the disks and put

them in a colander. Weight them with a 6- to 8-pound dish for about 45 minutes,

to bleed out any bitter juices. After a quick wash in cold water, pat them dry

and set the slices aside until later.

 

Boil the vinegar in a shallow nonreactive skillet or saucepan and put one or two

slices at a time into it for about 1 minute.

 

Put about 2 tablespoons olive oil on the bottom of the jar or crock and a few

pieces of garlic. Put two slices or so of hot eggplant on the oil and scatter on

some red pepper flakes, oregano, and some more oil.

 

Continue until you have pickled all the eggplant slices and have layered them

with olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, and oregano. Cover the jar or crock

and put in the refrigerator (if you have a cold wine cellar you can store it

there).

 

The eggplant is ready to eat in about a week and will stay fresh and tasty in

the refrigerator for about a month. As you use the eggplant, most of the oil

will remain in the jar and you will have it to use for other dishes. It will be

congealed, so take some out of the refrigerator and let it liquefy. You can use

it to saute [favorites], vegetables, or even potatoes. Any bitter juices at the

bottom of the jar should be discarded.

 

NOTE : If you have any vinegar left over, you can store it in a jar and use it

again for making more eggplant, but taste it to be sure it has not become

bitter. If it has, discard it.

 

Source: Carlo Middione " Vera Cucina: Traditional Recipes from the Homes and

Farms of Italy "

Formatted by Chupa Babi: 03.21.08

 

 

The curious abbreviation " q.b. " appears in most of Middione's recipes. He

explains, " I can hardly think of a dish handed down to me by my mother or father

or other Italian cooks that did not include the phrase 'quanto basta.' Quanto

basta means 'enough,' or 'the amount that is needed.'.... Q.B. is also a way of

saying 'to taste' -- who knows better than you how much you need or like. " '

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