Capers

[prasantrin]

I've recently discovered a love for capers. So far, I've only used them in a butter-lemon caper sauce (used once with salmon, and another time with chicken) and fig and olive tapenade.

I've been browsing, and found a roasted cauliflower with capers recipe I could manage, and another for roasted potatoes with capers. I'm also going to try a halibut with capers, olives and tomatoes recipe. (All from Epicurious)

But surely there must be some other tried and true recipes that eGulleters have tried and would like to share. Easy is best, because I'm a lazy cook, but I might be willing to go the extra mile for a very special recipe.

[Shelby]

I like them in tater salad and I LOVE them on top of deviled eggs.

[Chris Amirault]

Puttanesca.

[Artichoke]

Patted dry and fried in olive oil until golden brown, they are delicious.

[SobaAddict70]

There are capers and caper berries. I assume you mean the small kind.

Word to the wise: use them sparingly. It's easy to get carried away.

They're great in a salade nicoise.

[Beebs]

Smushed up in a dressing parsley, shallot, olive oil, red wine vinegar and drizzled (scooped!) over boiled potatoes and grilled fish.

[HungryChris]

I make a pork tenderloin piccata and make the pan sauce with capers, white wine, garlic and shallots. It is a quick and inexpensive dish in whch the capers play a nice role.

HC

[Peter the eater]

Capers on pizza is a good idea, or anywhere else there are a lot of ingredients competing for your taste buds.

[budrichard]

Besides caper berries in brine, capers are available brine cured and salt cured.

The salt cured large capers are the best but are becoming hard to find. The little ones sold are not worth purchasing. Brine cured have a different flavor.

They go best sauted with a fish such as sole/flounder/orange roughy etc. Scatter on pizza, in sauces, where ever you need a burst of salt and flavor. Always rinse the salt cured capers before using.-Dick

[Prawncrackers]

Capers in salsa verde, wonderful with any fatty meat or oily fish. Capers, parsley, cornichons, anchovy, lemon juice, wine vinegar, mustard, evoo, sugar, s & p.

Edited May 27, 2008 by Prawncrackers (log)

[tino27]

I'm a big fan of making a compound butter with capers, rosemary, garlic, and lemon zest and then stuffing it between the skin and breast meat of a whole chicken right before roasting the chicken.

A - MA - ZING.

[WandaSue]

Try Chicken Marbella (Silver Palate Cookbook). I reworked the recipe using boneless chicken and it's fabulous.

[HungryC]

They're pretty good in potato salad--a nice, zingy change from relish.

[prasantrin]

So it seems simple is best with capers, which is perfect for my style of cooking.

burdrichard--salt-cured capers are probably easier to find in Japan than in the US or Canada. I can get them at my local discount liquor store, though I've never even seen them in my hometown in Canada (city of about 700 000). I've always used brine-cured ones, so I'll have to pick up some of the salt-cured ones.

SobaAddict70--is 1 tablespoon of capers (the little ones) for a 2.5oz piece of fish carried away? i might have gone a bit overboard last night, but I really like them!

Potato salad, deviled eggs, piccata, puttanesca (I've been meaning to try making puttanesca, and didn't realize it had capers in it, too), compound butter (my mouth is watering--butter and capers!)...I've got a list started.

I do love capers on pizza (my favourite Italian-style pizza place does a Pizza Napoletana which is anchovies, olives, and capers). Next time I get Italian pizza take-out, I'm adding my own capers!

WandaSue--Could you tell me what kind of modifications you had to make for using boneless chicken in the chicken marbella? I've had that recipe in my "to make" folder for more than a year, but still haven't done it. I need to use boneless chicken, though, because chicken with bones is so difficult to buy in Japan (at least in my area).

I'll start posting pics of my caper capers as I go along!

[prasantrin]

Patted dry and fried in olive oil until golden brown, they are delicious.

←

Seriously? I love fried food ("Anything fried is good" is one of my mottos), but I'm having trouble imagining this. Do you just eat them as-is, or do you use them to garnish particular dishes?

Perhaps that can be my caper caper for tomorrow. I need to make some chile oil, anyway, so I'll just toss in some capers, first. Mmmm....fried food...

[PassionateChefsDie]

This thread has me craving a dish, from a place I worked at.

Pan fried Wild Sea Bass, when nearly finished some nice garlic butter, lovely little purple olives, fresh parsley, capers and little of the caper juice.

I was quite happy with the pan and some fresh bread, never did get the Sea Bass.

[SobaAddict70]

prasantrin -- 1 T. is plenty. since the capers are packed in brine, the last thing you want to do is overwhelm whatever it is you're making I've found. I usually go easy on them. it depends on the dish. for something like chicken piccata, less is more. I've seen recipes that call for as much as 1/4 cup for four pieces of chicken.

[Poffertjes]

Orange Salad,

Slice up some oranges, or make supremes if you're fancy, big chunks work if you don't have the patience, olive oil, salt, pepper, and some capers. Great italian salad I learned to make this winter in Padova at a friend's house.

[alwang]

Jean Georges' caper-raisin emulsion works well with all kinds of seafood. Just take the sauce from this recipe:

http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/special/...ges/raisin.html

I only wish the color was a little more appetizing...

[Jonathan Kaplan]

I'll second both the fried capers (I use them as a garnish for, well, lots of things! But I can easily imagine mixing them in with home-made potato chips as a snack) and the Jean-George caper-raisin sauce.

Fried capers, aside from tasting really good, look *really* cool, too. They will "blossom" and look a bit like little fried flowers.

Best,

jk

[joiei]

Another fan of fried capers. Makes a nice little finish to a salad or as a last minute finish to anything piccata. I have done it with chicken, veal and fish(I used tilapia). Pork tenderloin, sounds good.

[Ndy]

I usually reserve them for sauces, but I have put them in tuna salad as well. Added a nice salty bite.

[eldereno]

An interesting suggestion here.

I love doing a recipe that, I think, I got from Food and Wine many years ago. It is spagetti with anchovies and fried capers, lots of garlic, some lemon juice and zest, and parsley. I haven't found it at their site but will keep looking. CI has a recipe for a similar dish but without all the lemon. Love it.

Another pasta dish I love is this one. Great for in the summer.

Just some suggestions.

[eldereno]

Found it!!!!!! Enjoy!

[Cleo]

Another vote for puttanesca. Or just pasta with olive oil, garlic, capers, parmesan cheese, maybe mushrooms if I have them on hand.

But my favorite dish of all is a bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon (nova), red onion and capers.

And I respectfully disagree with SobaAddict on the theory that less is more. I like a lot of capers.