I have a zinfandel grape in the yard, originally planted more as a whimsical tribute to our favorite wine grape than for any practical purpose.  It is now producing grapes, something I should have seen coming, but what to do with them?  They are tasty enough to eat fresh if you don’t mind the seeds but still…

Grape focaccia!  Of course!  I’ve never tried it but it sounds tasty and fun.  The catch? The seeds.  These are small grapes, so I needed a lot.  After about 10 minutes of seeding I had a much better idea of what I was in for, stopped seeding, and split the dough in half.  I decided to top the other half with tomatoes and resumed seeding.  Later that day… I finally had enough grapes.

I wanted to know what the grapes would do on their own so I kept it simple.  Just a little olive oil and a very few bits of rosemary sprinkled on.  The other half was topped with rosemary and yellow pear tomatoes.

In spite of a lackluster focaccia dough (no formula posted – I am confident that you can make a better one)  they were both tasty.  I was amazed at how sweet and concentrated the flavor of the grapes became.  If I can work up the enthusiasm to seed all those grapes again I’ll make a thinner bread, maybe even a regular pizza crust so the grapes will stand out more.  A great seasonal summer treat! 

Marcus