Roast Grape & Goat’s Cheese Bruschetta

A grape glut! Not mine. More’s the pity. My neighbour’s, who has a vine in her back garden, pays it almost no attention (in fact, I think it’s considered a bit of a pest) yet is swamped, literally swamped, with grapes.

Now, when someone invites you to come and help yourself to their glut there’s an awkward moment of glut-pilfering etiquette that ensues. One man’s glut is another man’s perfectly normally sized harvest and if you haven’t seen the glut in question, you don’t know what’s on offer. So, the big dilemma is this: how big a bucket do you take with you when you go to pick said glut? Turning up with a wheelbarrow might be tempting, but you could appearing greedy or, worse, grabby. But turn up with a modest mixing bowl and you risk missing out on a huge harvest should the pickings be rich.

Such was my dilemma when the grape glut was offered. I went safe and took my biggest tupperware (I have BIG tupperware). Turns out I could have taken a tractor trailer. I’ve never seen so many grapes on a British vine! I picked 6 kilos (SIX!) and it didn’t look like I’d even been there. Heaven!

So, what to do with them all? They have seeds in them so juicing is an obvious choice. I think we’ll come to that next week. But this week, with the weather still fairly mild, I wanted to make something fresh and light. A weekend salad of grapes, baby spinach leaves, walnuts and gooey, mature goats cheese ensues and is most satisfying. Grapes, it turns out, go fabulously with goats cheese. I have a bit more of a play around and discover roasting works well too:

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Roast Grape and Goats Cheese Bruschetta

Yield: 1

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 25 Min

A simple but decadent lunch of roast grapes, fragrant thyme and creaming goats cheese.

Ingredients

• Small bunch of red grapes
• 1 tbsp thyme leaves
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 50g soft, mild goats cheese
• 1 slice sourdough bread

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C and arrange the grapes on a roasting tray.
2. In a pestle and mortar, pummel the thyme leaves and olive oil together to create a green sauce. Add a little salt.
3. Drizzle most of the thyme oil over the grapes, keeping some back for serving. Toss the grapes in the oil then roast for 10 minutes until blistered and juicy.
4. Meanwhile, toast (or griddle if you're feeling fancy) the sourdough.
5. Spread the goats cheese liberally and messily on the sourdough then spoon the roasted grapes over the top. Drizzle some more of the thyme oil on top and serve immediately.

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