There is a vine growing outside our front window, and by now it is heavy with dusky little wine grapes. We have spent a morning snipping two big baskets of small, tart bunches from it, some of which I have used to make a sort of grape paste to eat with cheese. The rest we’ve eaten roasted with fennel seeds to top soft cheese on toast, or in this salad inspired by one I ate at a dinner cooked in celebration of my friend Anja Dunk’s new book. Both reminded me of how pleasurable grapes can be when they are eaten in a savoury context.
Grape and tarragon salad
This salad is inspired by one I made on my first few shifts as a chef at Fifteen. It’s an unexpected pairing: the aniseed kick of tarragon and the sweet, refreshing burst of grapes. At Fifteen, we made it as a delicate starter, but now I make it as a salad to eat with dinner. Often it’s the centre of a simple fridge supper of cheese, breads and chutneys.
Prep 20 min
Serves 4
1 large bunch tarragon (about 50g), leaves picked and stalks discarded
4 handfuls peppery salad leaves (such as watercress or rocket)
400g red grapes, washed and halved
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp grainy mustard
1 tsp runny honey (or maple syrup)
Salt and black pepper
Wash and dry the tarragon and the salad leaves. Tumble into a large salad bowl, then add the grapes.
Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, honey and a good pinch of salt and pepper in a jam jar. Taste and adjust, adding more salt, lemon or honey as needed, remembering that the dressing will taste less punchy on the salad.
Toss the grapes, tarragon and salad leaves in the dressing and season a little more if needed.
Roasted grapes and goat’s cheese on toast (pictured top)
Roast grapes are a thing of beauty: they soften, intensify and turn a deep purple, their juice running in a violet slick across the baking tray. I usually roast mine with fennel seeds, which work well with cheese, but coriander seeds or black pepper would also be a good partner for the grapes.
Prep 5 min
Cook 10 min
Makes 6
400g bunch red grapes
Salt
4 slices sourdough
200g goat’s cheese
Black pepper
Runny honey, for drizzling
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas 6. Cut the grapes into little bunches, put on a baking tray, sprinkle with salt and roast for five to 10 minutes, until the skins start to split.
Meanwhile, toast the bread, then spread each slice with goat’s cheese and season generously with black pepper.
Once the grapes have roasted, pile them on to the toasts and top with the honey. Eat to start or end a meal.
Anna appears in the award-winning food magazine Feast, along with recipes by Yotam Ottolenghi and more top cooks, with the Guardian every Saturday
