Name: Funghetti di Melanzane (Eggplants Cooked as If They Were Mushrooms)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons drained capers, well rinsed and roughly chopped; ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes or freshly ground black pepper to taste; 2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley; 3 to 4 small tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped; 1 garlic clove, minced; 1½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 1 onion, diced; Salt; 2 large (2 pounds) globe eggplants, firm and glossy

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

In Nonna's Kitchen

By Carol Field

Published 1997

About

Here’s a wonderful dish based entirely on Italian imagination. It got its name and its inspiration from the Italians’ passion for mushrooms. When there are none to be found, they invent whatever they can to re-create the tastes of the funghi from their hillsides. The dish, which I learned from Giuseppina Peppino De Lorenzi in Lequile just beyond Lecce, is every bit as simple and tasty as it appears.