Grapes, as I recently claimed, are the best possible fruit: wine and raisins are made from them; they look sexy and universally come in the seedless version these days. We must be having the grape moment in the UK this year; they are unbelievably delicious and very cheap, be it green, black or crimson (aka flame), my favourite.
I have discovered roasting grapes: minimally sprinkled with brown sugar, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and walnut oil, they become impossibly sweet, tangy and deep in flavour. I’ll try a dusting of salt on them as well next time for the full spectrum of taste!
Roasted thus, you can have them for breakfast, replacing the summer fruit in the fruit and oats breakfast bowl. For lunch, scatter feta and walnuts over the grapes for a perfect autumn salad. If you have more time, bake a grape and blue cheese focaccia. And for dinner serve a roasted bunch alongside stuffed pork chops.
Grapes apart, I’m still enjoying tomatoes before the season ends and they seem to only grow in the Netherlands. Stuffed tomatoes with salty breadcrumbs are a great lunchtime dish or you can have them for dinner with baked fried crunchy chips – trust me, chips don’t only belong with steak or fish.
We’re also in the season for artichokes, both the tubers and the globes. The latter will appear on Fiend really soon (pre-post preview: trim the tops; steam for half an hour; share with the partner, kid or a mate dipping leaves in sriracha mayo) and the former can be made into creamed Jerusalem artichoke dish. Just add crusty bread.
And finally, the game reminder: roast pheasant needs to be brined and once you’ve tried that, you might end up brining everything before roasting – and why not? And if you’re keen on game you must have roast grouse at least once every couple of years; I know it’s expensive but it's a special culinary experience. And shooting grouse is actually sustainable for nature and rural economy as I was interested to learn.
And the cake? Where’s the cake this week? Well, finishing as we started, I’ll suggest this easy and delightful raisin cake which you could enjoy, Italian style, with a glass of wine or prosecco. Or there is a ridiculous number of cakes on these pages so take your pick if you don’t like raisins (who doesn’t like raisins???). And make sure you subscribe to the newsletter not to miss recipes for any new ones.