This recipe was heavily inspired by one of my favorite baking recipes from the Bake Off tent,” says Crystelle Pereira, runner-up on the show in 2021.
“I created focaccia during Bread Week, with roasted grapes, sharp, salted feta crisp walnuts, and fresh Fennel.
“It went down a treat, and so I’ve transferred all of the same flavours and textures into crispy crostini – little bites of sweet and salty deliciousness.”
Honey, roasted grapes, and feta Crostini
Ingredients:
To infuse the oil:
50ml olive oil
Two cloves of garlic, grated
1/2 cup dried Thyme
For the Crostini:
Black Seedless Grapes 240g (about 24 grapes)
200g of feta
Ten walnuts with skin on
One small baguette
1 1/4 tablespoons of nutty honey
Fresh fennel bulb, 1/4 ounce thinly sliced (optional)
An assortment of freshly cut Thyme and a small amount of salt from the sea-ground black pepper
Method:
1. The oven should be preheated to 180C fan/400F/gas mark 6.
2. The first step is to make the infused oil. Put the oil into a tiny pot with garlic and Thyme, and simmer gently at an extremely low temperature for approximately 10 minutes or so until the oil is bubbling and delicious. Switch off the heat, and then set aside.
3. Arrange the grapes on a tray for roasting and then sprinkle three teaspoons of oil that have been infused. The grapes should be tossed until they are covered, and then place them in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until they are smoky while the rinds shrunk slightly. Let them cool, and then cut each grape lengthways.
4. In the food processor, along with some feta water (or milk if the feta does not contain water), a generous pinch of pepper, and one tiny pinch of salt. Blend until it is completely smooth.
5. Set the walnuts on a pan at a medium temperature and toast for 7 minutes, until lightly browned and aromatic. Allow them to cool, cut them into smaller pieces and place them aside.
6. Cut the baguette diagonally into thin crostini pieces (about 1.5cm in thickness) and sprinkle a teaspoon of the oil-infused over each slice. Place them on a tray, and toast in the oven, for about 7-10 mins, until crispy and golden. You can cook them on a griddle pan at a high temperature for 4 minutes, turning halfway through.
7. To serve, pour a tablespoon of whipped feta onto each crostini and drizzle with honey. Then, top with four grape halves, an assortment of Fennel, walnuts crushed along with fresh thyme leaves, and serve immediately.
