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Zacusca

A roasted eggplant and pepper spread made with onions, tomato paste, and spices.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Eggplant and tomato work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 651 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Zacusca

Serves 15
Total3 hr

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Roast the eggplants and peppers until their skins are charred and easily removable by hand.

  2. Skin the vegetables. Remove the pepper skins in long strips.

  3. If desired, use the back of a knife to remove any remaining eggplant flesh from the skin; discard if pressed for time.

  4. Dice the eggplants and peppers into 1–2 cm cubes.

Make the zacusca

  1. In a large nonstick skillet, sauté the onions in the oil over medium heat until golden.

  2. Add the peppers to the onions and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, ensuring it does not stick to the bottom of the pan.

  3. Stir in the eggplants, tomato paste, bay leaves, salt, and peppercorns. Simmer until the oil rises to the surface.

Store and serve

  1. Can the mixture in sterilized jars. Store in a cool place.

  2. If you don't want to can, store the zacusca in the fridge and consume within a few days.

  3. Serve on thin-to-medium slices of baguette.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

140Calories
4 gProtein
1 gFat
31 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Eggplant1 cup cubed (82g)35
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Sunflower Oilnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Eggplant + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together651 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Eggplant + sunflowertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Eggplant + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,123 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggplant
Forms the soft, creamy body of the spread once roasted and cooked down.
Red bell pepper
Adds sweetness and body, softening into the spread during long cooking.
Onion
Builds a sweet, savory base as it turns golden in the oil.
Tomato paste
Adds concentrated acidity and savory depth, deepening color and flavor.
Sunflower oil
Carries flavor and gives the spread its richness and silky texture.

The step that matters

Cooking the peppers without sticking. Peppers and onions contain plenty of sugar, which scorches on hot metal, so stirring often over steady heat keeps the mixture from burning and turning bitter.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, pepper, tomato, sunflower):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, pepper, tomato, sunflower. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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