Oven-Roasted Grapes on Fresh Cheese

Ingredients

This silky sweet and lightly salty slow-roast recipe is perfect for those days when you are home but otherwise occupied.  Turn the oven on low and check contents every hour or so until the chores and grapes are done.  Small effort with huge rewards. Highly coveted hostess gift for special friends.

Small wine grapes make for best presentation, but any sweet, seedless grapes will do.  Blueberries work well also, but be sure they are small with concentrated flavour, and you may have to drizzle over a wee bit of honey during the final hour of roasting. This recipe makes enough roasted grapes to dress three 6-0z rounds of cheese - making it a perfect make-ahead during the busy holiday entertaining season.

• 1 lb (454 gr) small sweet, seedless grapes.  We use Interlaken but Muscat works well also.
• Excellent quality extra virgin olive oil. We prefer Domenica Fiore Classico.
• Sea salt.  We prefer Pacific Fleur de Sel flakes
• 6 oz (170 gr) round or slice of fresh cheese made from sheep or goat milk (try making your own, using this recipe)
• Fresh thyme leaves for garnish (optional)

Methodology

Preheat oven to 175F (80C). Wash and pat grapes dry.  Remove fruit from stems. Discard stems and place grapes in a bowl.  Drizzle just enough olive oil to coat, plus an additional tablespoon.  Sprinkle with a large pinch of fleur de sel and toss gently to coat.  Taste for balance and correct salt if neccessary.  Be careful, do not over-salt.

Turn seasoned grapes onto a clean baking sheet and place on centre rack in pre-heated oven.  Leave to roast gently for up to eight hours, or until grapes have lost about 40% of their volume.  Slow-roasting permits the grapes to give up some of their juice to the pan where it doesn't entirely evaporate, rather it mingles with the olive oil and dissolved salt.  Heaven!  Fruit will darken as it roasts, contrasting beautifully with the yellow/gold of the olive oil.

Remove from oven and, with a slotted spoon, mound grapes gently on and around the room-temperature cheese. Spoon pan juice and olive oil overtop, letting it spill artfully over the sides of the cheese.  Serve with water crackers, sliced baguette, or crudités (fresh vegetables).

Hostess gift idea:  Give a lovely glass jar of roasted grapes, together with a fresh baguette and round of fresh cheese.

Submitted by:

C@H Kitchen