The winter cold freezes us, paralyses us and brings out our laziest selves. The evening comes and preparing dinner becomes an impossible task. But what happens when we have guests? We have no excuse and it is time to prepare something. So, for those evenings when we don’t feel like cooking, but we have a get-together at home, here are a couple of recipes with grapes for an aperitif dinner.
Characterised by a very pleasant sweet taste, our snack with grapes will focus on pairing this fruit with one of the most popular products of our gastronomy: cheese in any of its varieties – manchego, creamy, cabrales, burgos or brie, for example -.
Cheese and grape balls
We will make two types of grapes and cheese balls. Our first option will also be accompanied by walnuts, resulting in a crunchy snack, with a surprisingly crunchy inside. In this case we will opt for a creamy cheese to cover the main product, which can be peeled or unpeeled. Then chop the walnuts until they are finely ground and coat the grapes in cheese. And that’s it!
Serve on a tray, in a bowl, or even on a stick for easy eating. If you want to complete this brochette proposal with another ingredient that combines flavour, choose to coat it with another of our favourite nuts: pistachio. We assure you that it will be a sure hit.
Dipping sauce
Another classic starter is the dipeo. For this reason, we are going to prepare a grape sauce, without reducing it too much, to accompany some fried potatoes or sweet potatoes. For the following recipe we will need 250gr of grapes, 1 spring onion, EVOO (50ml), 2 dl of cream, 50ml of brandy and salt and pepper.
Start by peeling the grapes and the spring onion and chopping them, then put them in a pan with hot oil. Then add the brandy and let it evaporate before adding the cream and the salt and pepper seasoning. Let it cook for 3 more minutes and then I just wanted to whisk.
Place it in a bowl and enjoy pairing it with a classic like French Fries.