Carbonata, which nightshade is essential?

[taxlady]

Through trial and error I am figuring out which nightshades bother my arthritis and which don't. I have learned that I can eat a small amount of some nightshades with no issue. I'm always looking for interesting vegi dishes, so when I heard about carbonata/carbonatina, it sounded like something to look into. Wikipedia makes it sound interesting and appealing. But, most recipes have eggplant, tomato, and red bell peppers, a nightshade bomb. Which of those would you consider essential to the dish? Every recipe I saw had eggplant and a bunch of stuff that isn't a problem. BTW, chili peppers don't bother me.

 

[GotGarlic]

I'm not familiar with carbonata and it's not coming up in searches; there are some results for carbonata that turn out to be carbonara or caponata. Do you mean caponata? If so, I would consider eggplant to be the essential ingredient.

Caponata

 

[medtran49]

It's caponata and caponatina.

 

[medtran49]

As posted in tonight's dinner thread.

I used half a zucchini and yellow squash, 1/2 of a large onion, 2 very young/small eggplants and a red bell pepper. Maybe sub mushrooms for the eggplant, or are you the one (yes, you are) whose husband doesn't like them? Then use the squash and onions, and either red bells or tomatoes.

I saw it being made by an Italian American a few weeks ago. She cooked each vegetable separately with EVOO and S&P, then mixed them together and added a dressing of 1 anchovy, smashed and cooked lightly in 1/4 cup EVOO, with about 1/2 Tbsp chopped capers and 1 Tbsp chiffonade of basil. It can be served warm or room temp. I made it early afternoon and let it sit until dinner.

I really like cooking the vegetables separately and then combining. The flavors don't get muddied that way. Learned that trick at a high end restaurant that makes a succotash with edamame instead of lima beans.

 

[pepperhead212]

Caponata is a favorite dish of mine, come vegetable season. I also consider eggplant one of the essential ingredients, as well as the tomatoes; I've made another recipe without the peppers that was really good, but I do like the peppers, as well.

Have you tried different eggplants, @taxlady, to see if any of them bother you less? Or does peeling them help?

 

[taxlady]

Yikes, it should have said caponata, not carbonata. D'oh!

 

[taxlady]

Caponata is a favorite dish of mine, come vegetable season. I also consider eggplant one of the essential ingredients, as well as the tomatoes; I've made another recipe without the peppers that was really good, but I do like the peppers, as well.

Have you tried different eggplants, @taxlady, to see if any of them bother you less? Or does peeling them help?

No, I haven't tested eggplant yet. It's not a favourite, so it hasn't been urgent to find out. But, I am pretty sure that I can cut down on the irritation by removing the skin and seeds. The problem isn't just which nightshades. It's also quantity and how much nightshade have I eaten in the past few days. I'm willing to try the eggplant, but is it still caponata without tomato or bell pepper? Would leaving out just one still be caponata and is one better than the other to leave out?

 

[dragnlaw]

My recipe for caponata has 5 main ingredients, 3 of which you say are possible irritants for you. So why would you even consider the recipe?

To my way of thinking - no, it is not caponata should you remove any of those 3. That's what makes it caponata.
You could however lessen each ingredient significantly and try it, but again, why would you ask your body to chance testing caponata with 9 different ratio's of a ingredients which you feel might cause you problems.
Plus, you don't even know if you like eggplant! Why don't you try eggplant on its own in a variety of recipes which do not have other triggers!

I should also mention that most recipes actually say roasted (or fried) eggplant in a tomato base sauce. Not just chopped up tomato but eg tomato paste in for the base.

 

[Jade Emperor]

I guess you could try Thai eggplant which is still very tasty but quite different to the larger black skin kind we are used to. I use it all the time in my Thai food and it’s more delicate flavour might be less of an irritant to you, I would definitely not recommend omitting tomato and perhaps you could try experimenting with various capsicums if you’re interested.

 

[taxlady]

I guess you could try Thai eggplant which is still very tasty but quite different to the larger black skin kind we are used to. I use it all the time in my Thai food and it’s more delicate flavour might be less of an irritant to you, I would definitely not recommend omitting tomato and perhaps you could try experimenting with various capsicums if you’re interested.

When you write, "capsicums" are you using the term in the exclusive sense, of only the peppers that don't have capsaicin, the ones we call "bell peppers" in North America? The ones with capsaicin don't seem to have much solanine (the most common of the nightshade glycoalkaloid poison). I'm guessing that the capsaicin does a good enough job of pest control. Most of the bell peppers don't bother me, unless I have too much or other nightshades at the same time. The tomato tends to be okay without the seeds and skin, again, not too much. I could use passata, that has the seeds and skins strained out.

But, in the worst case, I'll just make something with only one of the nightshades. It still sounds delicious.

 

[Jade Emperor]

Yes, I did mean what you call bell pepper.