Roast grape & ricotta garlic bread

Ingredients Seedless red grapes, ricotta cheese, 100g butter, 3 cloves garlic, 50g parsley, baguette

Serves: 1 Preparation: 30 minutes


I adore garlic bread. Like Scott Pilgrim I could eat it for every meal - there is something so comforting about the crisp outer shell of bread filled with meltingly soft butter-drenched bread and the sharp aroma of roasting garlic. This recipe makes excellent party food - a slathering of ricotta and the heady fruit really is a fabulous companion to the garlic.


1) To make garlic bread, simply peel and crush the garlic cloves, finely chop the parsley and stir together. Using room temperature butter, cream it until it is at a pliable consistency and stir through the garlic and parsley.


2) Slice the garlic bread at intervals - do not cut all the way through the bread, go to just over half way


3) There are two methods for making garlic bread, each equally effective. The first is to form the garlic butter into a sausage shape, wrap it in cling-film and allow it to become hard in the fridge. Then slice it and use these discs of garlic butter to slide between the partially sliced baguette. The second is to literally just spread the soft garlic butter into the slits of the partially sliced baguette.


4) Bake the bread in the oven for 8 minutes, ensuring the "unsliced" base of the bread is at the bottom so the butter does not seep out! On a separate tray, roast the grapes.


5) Tear off or slice through the bread and spread with ricotta. Top with the grapes and serve.

Grape & feta calzone

Ingredients 3 stalks Rosemary, handful of pistachios, basil oil, feta, handful of   spinach, cinnamon, sherry, grapes, 200g very strong white bread flour (grade 00), 1/4 tbs salt, 1/2 a sachet of yeast, 1/4 tsp honey, 1 tbs olive oil, 130ml warm water.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 1 hour


I can remember the first calzone I ate as a little girl; a thin crisp shell dusted with flour that released a cloud of fragrant steam when I hacked into it, followed by an ooze of cheese and tangy tomato sauce. This particular recipe was inspired by a filling Jamie Oliver made for a breakfast pastry which I knew would be enhanced, like anything, with cheese.


1) For a quick pizza dough: sift the flour and salt together and pour onto a clean work surface. Make a well in the centre and after dissolving the yeast, oil and honey in warm water, pour into the centre and mix with a fork until it is gradually combined. Dust your hands with flour and kneed until a smooth, elastic dough has formed. Set aside.


2) Finely chop the rosemary and "bruise" in a mortar and pestle with a handful of pistachios until the nuts are crushed. Season with salt and pepper and about half a teaspoon of cinnamon, then stir in a tablespoon of basil oil and a teaspoon of sherry.


3) Roughly chop a good handful of spinach and quarter a good handful of grapes (I used seedless flame red grapes). Stir in the rosemary "pesto" and set aside.


4) Roll out the pizza dough to about half a centimetre thickness and cut out circles of dough (I used about 8cm diametre circles). Roll the circles a little thinner and dust one side with flour.


5) Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the filling onto each circle, adding cubes of feta (I used a 25 year barrel aged feta - the stronger the better for this recipe!) and then fold in half, ensuring the filling is evenly distributed.


6) Pinch the edges of the dough until it is sealed like a cornish pasty and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.