I’ve written about roasted grapes before and I really do love them. Roasting brings out such an intense, grape flavor. They are sweet and savory at the same time and have quickly become one of my favorite cooked fruits. And they are soooo easy to make! Roasted grapes make an easy holiday appetizer idea too!
Roasting grapes is really a great way to extend their life too – they will easily keep for a week in your fridge so you can make these ahead and viola! An appetizer you can pull together in no time! What is not to love?
I had some extra grapes when we got back from our recent getaway to the Finger Lakes and knew I had to do something with them. There were too many left to eat ourselves so I decided to roast them and used the opportunity to talk about how to roast them as one of my Tip Tuesdays on Instagram.
(Follow me on Instagram or on my YouTube channel to see me making them in action!) Then, I topped these little crostini with mascarpone cheese and some of the delectable roasted grapes. The perfect appetizer for our anniversary dinner tonight!
How to Roast Grapes
This is the easy part! It’s really very simple but here are the steps:
- Wash your hands and preheat the oven to 425F.
- Wash the grapes well and remove any stems.
- Place the grapes in a single layer in a roasting pan or on a sheet pan.
- Toss with olive oil or grapeseed oil.
- For these, I added fresh rosemary and sea salt and tossed them well.
- Then, place them in the oven for 15 – 25 minutes, until they are softened and will break apart with just a little pressure by the back of your fork.
Assemble the Crostini
Once the grapes are cooled, I spread about 1 – 1/2 teaspoons of mascarpone cheese on a toasted crostini and topped them with the roasted grapes.
These will be the perfect way to kick off our anniversary dinner or delicious before that Thanksgiving turkey!
Have you ever tried roasting grapes? How do you use them?
Roasted Grape and Mascarpone Crostini
Equipment
- 1 serrated knife
- 1 butter knife or offset spatula
Ingredients
Crostini Rounds
- 1 6-inch baguette also called a "demi" baguette
- 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Roasted Grapes
- 1 lb. red grapes
- 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil
- 1 -2 tsp. fresh rosemary chopped
- ½ tsp. sea salt
Additional Crostini ingredients
- ½ cup mascarpone cheese about 4 oz.
Instructions
Make the crostini
- Place the oven on broil and allow to preheat.
- Slice the baguette into ½ inch slices. You should get about 16 crostini pieces.
- With a silicone brush, brush each side of the crostini pieces lightly with olive oil. Place on a sheet pan in one layer.
- Place under the broiler and broil until browned on one side, about 2 – 3 minutes but watch them carefully. Flip and brown on the other side. The crostini should be lightly browned and crunchy.
- Remove from the sheet pan and allow to cool. This can be done a day or two ahead. Once cooled, store in a sealed container until you are ready to use them.
Roasting the Grapes
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Wash the grapes well and remove any stems. Dry them with a paper towel if necessary.
- Place the grapes on a single layer in a roasting pan or sheet pan. Toss with olive oil or grapeseed oil to coat them thoroughly.
- Sprinkle on the rosemary and sea salt and toss well.
- Place them in the middle of the preheated oven and roast them for 15 – 25 minutes, until they are softened and break apart with just a little pressure applied by the back of a fork.
- Remove from the oven and allow them to cool.
Assemble the crostini
- Spread each crostini piece with ~1-½ tsp. of mascarpone cheese.
- Add 3 – 5 roasted grapes on top of the cheese, depending on the size of the grape and the crostini pieces.
- Place all on a platter and serve!
