Capers

[toucansail]

I bought a huge jar of capers and thought it would last a long time - wrong! Capers are wonderful added to tuna/fish/chicken salad; to shrimp cooked with tomatoes, onions, garlic (lots of garlic) and spaghetti; they perk up almost any recipe.

A delicious sauce to have with fish is mayonnaise, yogurt, capers and/or chopped dill pickles plus a little of the caper/pickle vinegar.

Enjoy!

[Lighthouse]

Welcome aboard "toucansail".

Capers is something that I cannot live without.

How about posting some of your onboard recipes for us all to enjoy?

[redbopeep]

I went through a "capers" phase myself. Just had to have them all the time! One of my favorite dishes in my capers- phase was a salad which starts with a bed of mixed greens, then has (all ingredients cool/cold not hot): grilled chicken, cubed red potatoes, red onions diced, chives or green onions diced, capers, and tossed with a dressing of white balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It's quite yummy.

[Istioploos]

Capers are an essential aboard Thetis. The best capers I had bought were from Malta. The next best come from the island of Syros in Greece. I sometimes go there just to get a supply of capers. They keep for over a year in a jar of brine.

Here are 2 easy and quick boat recipes using capers:

1. Have some thin cutlets, pork or turkey (for low fat). These you dust with flour and saute lightly and wrap them in foils. They keep refrigerated for about 10 days. When ready saute them again and remove them from the pan. In the hot pan add a glass of balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons of capers, and 2 tablespoon of French mustard. Mix well and bring to a light boil. Then add the cutlets and simmer for a minute or two.

2. Boil some pasta into a mixture of 2 parts fresh water to one part sea water (assuming the sea is not polluted). In the mean time in a sauce pan saute with some olive oil a can of tuna, 2 tablespoons of capers, and two tablespoons of pitted and chopped olives. When the pasta is ready pour the sauce over it and serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Bon Appétit

[chiroeurope]

Personally I like the Capers from Puglia down in the region of Lecce. If you talk to a farmer during the season or find an old building buy the side of the road that is covered in the vines you can pick and clean them yourself. The ones that are about 5mm in diameter (had to measure between the fingers to figure out what size is best) packed in salt will last a long time and are very full flavored and you don't need huge amounts to get the flavor your after. The larger capers get the less flavor they have. NEVER, I MEAN NEVER, buy capers stored in oil. That destroys so much of the flavor and they can go bad very easily.

Having lived in Southern Italy for over four years we have a lot of recipes for them. only most are not written down. Will have to talk to the wife and see about writing them down sometime and posting them.

Michael

[redbopeep]

Oh, please post your recipes. You sound like a true connoisseur of capers! And, no, I don't mean that you get into mischief

Are you living aboard your boat now--in Italy? If not, do you plan a cruising life in the future? Looking forward to your posts

[whigwam]

Has anyone tried DRIED AND SALTED capers..

i remember eating them in india as a child,

even seem to remember roasted with spices.

i remember them keeping for a long time.

i used to eat them like snacks and as a condiment.

i would love to get my landlocked hands on them again