Cappon magro
Encyclopedia
Cappon magro or capòn magro is an elaborate and rich Genoese
salad of seafood and vegetables over hard tack arranged into a decorative pyramid and dressed with a rich sauce.
A similar but much less elaborate dish is called capponata in Liguria (cappunadda in Ligurian
), capponata in Sardinia, and caponata estiva or caponata di pesce (in Campania). It is a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, bottarga
, and dried tuna
dressed with olive oil
.
including Christmas Eve. 'Capon' may be a wry reference to the poultry capon, enjoyed by better off people for Christmas, that this fish dish substitutes. It may also refer specifically to the biscuit base, comparable to the French 'chapon', a slice of bread rubbed with garlic which is placed in the bottom of a soup or salad bowl. It may also refer to one of the many fish called 'cappone' (perhaps a gurnard
or red mullet
).
biscuits ("gallette") rubbed with garlic and soaked in seawater and vinegar. Then a pyramid is built up layer by layer.
Each layer may consist of one or many vegetables, fishes, or seafoods. All recipes include boiled white fish, a lobster, green bean
s, celery
, carrot
s, beet
s, and potato
es. Some authorities insist that black salsify is essential. Other seafoods and vegetables may also be included. Each ingredient is boiled separately, cut up, and seasoned with oil and vinegar. Each layer is dressed with a sort of cross between salsa verde and mayonnaise
; it consists of parsley, garlic, capers, anchovies, the yolks of hard-boiled eggs, and green olives ground together in a mortar with olive oil and vinegar. The pyramid is topped with a lobster capped with its coral
. The sides of the pyramid are garnished with green olives, botargo, capers, anchovy filets, crayfish, artichokes, and quartered hard-boiled eggs.
dish called "Caponata Estiva" 'Summer Caponata', "Caponata Napolitana", or "Caponata di Pesce" consists of moistened ring-shaped rusk
s (friselle or gallette) dressed with oil, salt, garlic, oregano and basil, and topped with sliced tomatoes and possibly tuna. Any number of additional ingredients are optional, including smoked herring, pickled vegetables, olives, capers, anchovies, sardines, hard boiled eggs, very thinly sliced boiled beef, cucumber, carrot, celery.
Italian cuisine
Italian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots as far back as the 4th century BCE. Italian cuisine in itself takes heavy influences, including Etruscan, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab cuisines...
salad of seafood and vegetables over hard tack arranged into a decorative pyramid and dressed with a rich sauce.
A similar but much less elaborate dish is called capponata in Liguria (cappunadda in Ligurian
Ligurian language (Romance)
Ligurian is a Gallo-Romance language spoken in Liguria in Northern Italy, parts of the Mediterranean coastal zone of France, Monaco and in the villages of Carloforte and Calasetta in Sardinia. Genoese , spoken in Genoa, the capital of Liguria, is its most important dialect...
), capponata in Sardinia, and caponata estiva or caponata di pesce (in Campania). It is a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, bottarga
Bottarga
Botargo, also called bottarga , poutargue or boutargue , botarga , batarekh or avgotaraho is a Mediterranean delicacy of cured fish roe....
, and dried tuna
Mojama
Mojama is a Spanish delicacy consisting of filleted salt-cured tuna.The word mojama comes from the Arabic musama , but its origins are Phoenician, specifically from Gdr , the first Phoenician settlement in the Western Mediterranean Sea...
dressed with olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
.
Name
Cappon magro means 'fast-day capon'. Since the dish contains no meat, it is suitable for traditional Catholic fast daysFasting and Abstinence in the Roman Catholic Church
For Roman Catholics, fasting is the reduction of one's intake of food to one full meal a day. This may or may not be accompanied by abstinence from meat when eating....
including Christmas Eve. 'Capon' may be a wry reference to the poultry capon, enjoyed by better off people for Christmas, that this fish dish substitutes. It may also refer specifically to the biscuit base, comparable to the French 'chapon', a slice of bread rubbed with garlic which is placed in the bottom of a soup or salad bowl. It may also refer to one of the many fish called 'cappone' (perhaps a gurnard
Gurnard
-Fish:*Sea robin, fish of the family Triglidae, including:**Bluefin gurnard**Tub gurnard**Red gurnard**Grey gurnard**Scaly gurnard**Eastern spiny gurnard**Spotted gurnard...
or red mullet
Red mullet
The red mullets or surmullets are two species of goatfish, Mullus barbatus and Mullus surmuletus, found in the Mediterranean Sea, east North Atlantic Ocean, and the Black Sea. Both "red mullet" and "surmullet" can also refer to the Mullidae in general.Though they can easily be distinguished—M...
).
Preparation
The foundation of a cappon magro is a layer of hard tackHard Tack
Hard Tack may refer to:*Hard Tack *Hardtack, a kind of biscuit...
biscuits ("gallette") rubbed with garlic and soaked in seawater and vinegar. Then a pyramid is built up layer by layer.
Each layer may consist of one or many vegetables, fishes, or seafoods. All recipes include boiled white fish, a lobster, green bean
Green bean
Green beans , also known as French beans , are the unripe fruit of any kind of bean, including the yardlong bean, the hyacinth bean, the winged bean, and especially the common bean , whose pods are also usually called string beans in the northeastern and western United States, but can also be...
s, celery
Celery
Apium graveolens is a plant species in the family Apiaceae commonly known as celery or celeriac , depending on whether the petioles or roots are eaten: celery refers to the former and celeriac to the latter. Apium graveolens grows to 1 m tall...
, carrot
Carrot
The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
s, beet
Beet
The beet is a plant in the Chenopodiaceae family which is now included in Amaranthaceae family. It is best known in its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is the purple root vegetable known as the beetroot or garden beet...
s, and potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es. Some authorities insist that black salsify is essential. Other seafoods and vegetables may also be included. Each ingredient is boiled separately, cut up, and seasoned with oil and vinegar. Each layer is dressed with a sort of cross between salsa verde and mayonnaise
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
; it consists of parsley, garlic, capers, anchovies, the yolks of hard-boiled eggs, and green olives ground together in a mortar with olive oil and vinegar. The pyramid is topped with a lobster capped with its coral
Roe
Roe or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop and sea urchins...
. The sides of the pyramid are garnished with green olives, botargo, capers, anchovy filets, crayfish, artichokes, and quartered hard-boiled eggs.
Naples "Caponata Estiva"
The NaplesNaples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
dish called "Caponata Estiva" 'Summer Caponata', "Caponata Napolitana", or "Caponata di Pesce" consists of moistened ring-shaped rusk
Rusk
A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a baby teething food. In the United Kingdom, the name also refers to a wheat-based food additive.- Germany :The zwieback A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a baby teething food....
s (friselle or gallette) dressed with oil, salt, garlic, oregano and basil, and topped with sliced tomatoes and possibly tuna. Any number of additional ingredients are optional, including smoked herring, pickled vegetables, olives, capers, anchovies, sardines, hard boiled eggs, very thinly sliced boiled beef, cucumber, carrot, celery.