Charred Grapes and Halloumi Cheese Skewers, marinated and grilled.
Serves 6-8 as a side dish.
Our adventurers (and adventurous cooks) may still be recovering from the sausage in a bun marathon of last session (and GenCon and GenCon-Covid and house-move-in-progress). And the food options at the Blackstaff’s Tower were a little sparse. Or rather, our party was too preoccupied with the eerie and mournful inhabitants of the place, and the tales they had to tell, to focus on dining. Still, Vajra did welcome the Trio with an assortment of grapes, cheese, and some kind of crisp-bread. With that in mind, here is a slightly elevated (but still quick and light) version of this sweet-salty snack. Guaranteed to break the ice and ease the social awkwardness of introductions. Even if your host is a terrifyingly powerful Mage who has you locked in a haunted tower with a posse of grumpy spirits…
So: hot grapes baybee! These are surprisingly good. Little pops of juicy, tangy fruit become concentrated with caramelized sugar and a touch of char on the skin. They make a lovely contrast against the squeaky-salty nuggets of grilled cheese.
Ingredients:
1 medium bunch of grapes, washed and picked free of their stems (I prefer to use dark red or purple fruit because they make a beautiful contrast with the light cheese
150g/5oz Halloumi cheese, cut into roughly 2-3cm/1 inch cubes (Use more if you like extra cheese)
75ml/5 tblsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
2 sprigs fresh rosemary or 2.5g/1/2 tsp dried rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste.
Method:
- Carefully thread your grapes and cheese cubes onto skewers for grilling. Alternate one to one, or, if you skimped a little on your cheese, use one cheese cube for every two or three grapes.
- Mix olive oil with garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Drizzle over the skewers. This can be covered and stored in the fridge for several hours.
- Grill for on medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes a side. Just until the grapes are blistered and bursting with juice and the cheese is golden and crackly.
- Enjoy!
Notes: I had left-over, flavored, garlicky olive oil from my marinated cheese recipe. This worked very well for these skewers.
Another reason why this is such a generous dish to welcome guests with: I was literally taking my life in my hands with these metal skewers. I bought them in the optimistically ambitious delirium that comes over one in 100F weather (Celebrate the summer! Grill as much as possible!). And them immediately realized that I had brought lethal weapons into my home. Making kebabs has become a most nerve-wracking endeavor since these death-spears arrived…
As you can see, the cheese ratio becomes more sadly meager as I realize that I under-purchased Halloumi! 🙂
All oiled up…
Greasy grapes close-up that we all wanted…
Added to the grill…
So, um, apparently the theme of immense personal danger continues here. I am not sure why my lovely GM is grilling these like some kind of Mad Max situation. Oil causing many flare-ups, I guess?
Char is good. Adds flavor 😀
Finished and de-skewered for our guests’ safety. Grapes and cheese got all adulterated with the mixed vegetable skewers that were grilled at the same time. Oh well. We don’t kebab-kink shame here.
Tears of the Seldarine 
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