I enjoy cooking, and have a good sense for how to use spices and condiments. But I have never used capers before, and until my wife prepared Chicken Piccata for me recently, I was unaware of the subtle gustatorial delights of the shrivelly green Capparis rupestris. I want to try them in recipes more often, but suspect that indiscriminate use would be unsavory.
What else is good with capers?
Homemade tartar sauce:
1/3 cup mayo
2 tablespoons miracle whip
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon capers
1 sweet pickle
3 hamburger dill slices
sprig of fresh tarragon or a teaspoon of dried
1 tablespoon of chopped chives
juice of 1/2 lemon
Mix the mayos, and chop together all the rest of the ingredients into a fine mince. Mix the mince into the mayo mixture and serve with fish.
They’re good in all kinds of pasta dishes.
I like them with kalamata olives because deep down, I’m a little whore.
Good on Pizza!
Caper mash is a winner and they’re nice in a puttanesca-ish pasta sauce.
Puttanesca sauce:
4-6 anchovies
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans diced tomatoes
1/3 cup olive oil
Handful of Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
2-3 T. capers
oregano
salt and pepper
Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Add anchovies, saute until they disintigrate. Add garlic, saute for 15 seconds. Add canned tomatoes. Allow to simmer for 30 min or so, until tomatoes start to soften and oil comes to the top.
Meanwhile, cook up a pound of spaghetti.
When spaghetti is done, add olives, oregano, salt & pepper, and capers to the sauce. Give it a stir and cook for another minute or two. Serve with spaghetti. Yum Yum Yum, capery olivy anchovy goodness!
Artichoke Chicken with Capers
Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
½ cup milk
Seasoned flour (seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, etc. enough to cover chicken)
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons capers
1 can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
½ cup vermouth
Salt & Pepper
Directions
Pound chicken breasts until flattened. Dredge in milk and coat with seasoned flour.
Heat olive oil in a pan. Add minced garlic and cook until tender and slightly browned on the edges. Add chicken and sauté until browned on one side, flip, and sauté for 2 minutes more.
Add capers, artichoke hearts, vermouth and salt & pepper to taste.
Continue cooking until vermouth mixture is reduced by half, then cover and cook until chicken is no longer pink in the middle.
Serve over egg noodles.
A classic way of serving smoked salmon:
Rye toast spread lightly with horseradish
Smoked salmon with black pepper
A few wisps of red onion
Capers (or slices of caperberries)
Ha! I just made a recipe last night that called for capers. It ROCKED, so here it is. The idea is to use your leftover cooked beef (steak or roast).
Cold Beef Salad
1 lb. cooked beef
1 or 2 small red onions
3 cornichons (tiny French pickles. A mild baby dill pickle would work, too).
1 Tablespoon capers
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2-3 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
1 bunch fresh chives
Cut the beef into thin slices. Slice the onions into thin rings. Mince the cornichons. Toss these three ingredients and the capers together in a large bowl.
Whisk together the oils and vinegar, and season with the salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the salad.
Cover the salad and let it chill in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, snip the chives into small pieces.
To serve, dish the salad into small bowls or plates and scatter with the chives. This is great with crusty bread or a creamy pasta.
i made a reduced-carb tuna salad recipe a couple days ago that called for adding some capers. (personally, i think it used waaaay too much onion in ratio to the tuna, and we like a lot more mayo in ours – but the idea itself certainly has merit.)
I think they go wonderfully in tomato based pasta sauces, they cut any sweetness in the sauce and enhance the tomatoness.
Does anyone have experience with the several different types of caper’s arround. I have always used the small peppercorn size variety that is common in smoked samon bagels. There are varieties the size of peas, and some as large as small olives, what are these like, and how do they compare?
Shayna, that looks great - I may try it tonight.
lachesis, I was going to post about capers in tuna salad. It’s really good.
Capers are a staple in my fridge, but I always seem to forget about them. I’m having a salad for lunch today; I might sprinkle some on it and see how it tastes.
Serves 4
White fish (large fillet of cod, haddock etc)
Can of chopped tomatoes
1 red onion
2 cloves garlic
capers (a couple of tablespoons)
Lightly fry fish with chopped onion and garlic, about a minute on each side.
Put in oven proof dish with tomatoes and capers.
Add a little water.
Bake in oven until fish is cooked through.
Serve with potatoes, rice or pasta.
irishgirl, that’s almost EXACTLY what I was going to post, except that I like to use a little white wine and a squeeze of lemon instead of water.
I was having chicken picatta at a little Italian place in Dallas. I had pushed a few of the capers aside to savor by themselves. The owner walked by greeting the diners and noticed the capers at the side of the plate. I guess he thought I was going to waste them.
“Eat those,” he said pointing at the capers with a sly smile. “They’re expensive.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. And eat them.
Here are two dishes that my Ex cooked.
FLANK STEAK WITH MUSTARD CAPER SAUCE
4 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. salad oil
1 flank steak (about 1 1/2 lbs.)
3 tbsp. dry vermouth or dry white wine
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tbsp. capers, drained well
Watercress, optional
Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter with the oil in a wide frying pan over medium high heat. Place meat in pan and cook, uncovered, until meat is browned on both sides but still pink in center when slashed (5 to 6 minutes total).
Transfer meat to a carving board and cover loosely to keep warm. Over low heat, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in pan drippings. Mix in vermouth, mustard, Worcestershire, and capers; stir briskly to blend. Cut meat across the grain into thin slanting slices. Spoon sauce over meat. Garnish with watercress, if desired. Makes 4 servings. Taken from Sunset “Easy Basics for Good Cooking”.
She also sliced and cooked mushrooms in the pan while cooking the steak.
BROILED LAMB CHOPS WITH LEMON CAPER SAUCE
2 lamb chops, 1 1/2" thick
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. freshly grated lemon zest
1 tsp. drained capers
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Wash and pat lamb chops dry, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Broil in broiler about 4 inches from heat for 6 minutes. Turn chops and broil 4 minutes more. Remove and let stand 5 minutes. While the chops are standing in a small saucepan melt the butter and stir in the zest, capers, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and heat. Transfer the chops to plate, pour sauce over them and serve. Serves 2.
Yum…capers. Deepfried, they make a superb garnish.
The different sizes are all similar in taste as far as I can tell. The really large ones you’ve seen though might actually be caper berries, the caper itself being a bud of the plant. The caper berries have the much the same flavor but milder I think-I’ve never tried one.
Shayna, I made your chicken for dinner tonight, and it was excellent. The only thing I changed was to add the juice of one lemon. Even both of my picky little kids liked it, although I didn’t expect them to like the artichoke hearts and so picked all of those out for myself.
The capers absolutely made the dish. They didn’t add too much to my lunchtime salad though. I think they might be better warm.
Mmmmm!!! This thread is making me hungry. Anyone want to invite me for dinner? 
There sure are some good cooks on these boards…
Mmmm capers.
One of the best meals I ever had in my life was pheasant In Marsala sauce with lots of capers.
Thanks dwry. Does anyone use fresh Capers? I have only seen them bottled in brine or vinegar.
I think using a selection of different sized capers might make a piquante dish look more exciting.