Recipe: High heat gives grapes a delicious depth of flavor
![]() Grapes develop a rich complexity when roasted with pears and rosemary.
(Photos: Kathy Morrison)
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When table grapes show up in the stores and at the markets, I usually pass them up. They're nice for an occasional snack, but if I want to indulge in summer fruit, plums and peaches and nectarines are still in season, and all those are so versatile. (Torte! Cobbler! Salsa!)
Grapes by comparison seemed so limited: Good in fruit salad, and ... what else?
But I stand corrected. In the middle of this last heat wave, I turned my oven up high and discovered a wonderful thing: Grapes are amazing when they're roasted. Even better, they work in savory dishes as well as sweet ones.
I couldn't decide which way to go in this recipe test, so I divided up a 2-pound-plus bag of red seedless grapes and tried both sweet and savory. The recipes below each are written for the full amount, however. Each serves 4.
Do use fresh herbs if you can; I hope you have some growing in your garden.
![]() I originally tossed not-chopped rosemary over the grapes and
pears, but I think it works better to chop the herb.
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Grapes roasted with pears and rosemary
Inspired by several sources
Serves 4
Ingredients :
2 to 3 pounds seedless grapes, any color
2 firm, almost ripe pears (Bartlett preferred)
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions :
Position two oven racks in the middle of the oven, so there is the same amount of space from the top to the upper rack as from the bottom to the lower rack. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Cover two sheet pans with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
Remove the grapes from the stems and place in a large bowl. Pour the olive oil over the grapes, and then add the rosemary, plus salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Stir so grapes are equally coated.
Core and slice the pears, and scatter the slices over the two prepared pans. Divide the grapes between the two pans, scraping out onto the pans any oil and herbs left behind.
Roast the grapes and pears 30 minutes, switching the pans between the upper and lower racks after 15 minutes.
Remove the pans and let the fruit cool for only about 5 minutes. Scrape the fruit and all the juices into a bowl.
![]() Spoon the grapes and pears over freshly cooked pasta or
mix it all together.
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From here you can use it to:
-- Top bowls of pasta (or stir it in)
-- Use it as a condiment with cooked chicken or pork
-- Top toasted baguette slices for crostini
-- Spoon it over soft cheese for an appetizer with crackers
Now, here's a sweeter way to roast grapes.
Grapes roasted with thyme and wine
Adapted from a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 to 3 pounds seedless grapes, removed from the stem (red or black grapes preferred)
4 tablespoons sweet dessert wine such as port, Madeira or muscat
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (lemon thyme's a good choice if you have it)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Zest from 1 lemon
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions:
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, and stir well.
Pour the mixture into a high-sided 9-by-13- inch ceramic baking dish (roughly 2 1/2-quart size).
Bake for 40-45 minutes, stirring a few times, until the grapes have caramelized and the liquid has become syrupy.
Allow grapes to cool a bit before using, or chill them thoroughly, depending on what you plan to use them for.
Some ideas:
-- Top good vanilla ice cream or gelato
-- Spoon over slices of pound cake or cheesecake
-- Stir into yogurt for a brunch dish
-- Serve by themselves as a sophisticated poached fruit dessert; a shortbread cookie or slice of good cheese on the side would be a nice touch.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of May 18
Get outside early in the morning while temperatures are still cool – and get to work!
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. Transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Are birds picking your fruit off trees before it’s ripe? Try hanging strips of aluminum foil on tree branches. The shiny, dangling strips help deter birds from making themselves at home.
* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.