Scapece

By ltrodrigu

Ryan Hardy of Charlie Bird called scapece “perhaps the most genius of all Italian marinades.” Like its Spanish cousin escabeche, scapece was originally designed for preserving fried fish. “This combination of sweet and sour, garlic and mint makes zucchini or butternut squash shine even more brilliantly,” said Mr. Hardy. “Use it with some whipped ricotta and toast.” Two cups marinade, enough for one pound of vegetables

Ingredients

• 1 pound vegetables, mixture of zucchini, eggplant and/or butternut squash, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• Sea salt
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 pinch Calabrian red chili flakes
• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoon mint leaves

Details

Servings 2
Adapted from wsj.com

Preparation

Step 1

Season vegetables with sea salt. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, sauté vegetables until caramelized, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer vegetables to paper-towel lined plates.

Make Scapece:
In the same pan used to cook vegetables, sweat garlic until lightly caramelized, about 30 seconds. Add sugar and chili flakes and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Off heat, add vinegar, salt and mint. Return pan to stove and simmer until salt and sugar dissolve, about 2 minutes.

Pour scapece over caramelized vegetables. Set aside and allow vegetables to marinate at room temperature 1 hour. To serve, drizzle marinated vegetables with remaining oil.