Roasted grape & olive crostini

For ➍-➏*
2 tbs olive oil
1 cup (+/- 100 g) (purple) (seedless) grapes
1 cup (+/- 120 g) (kalamata) olives, pitted
1½ ts finely chopped rosemary, divided (or thyme)
sea salt & red pepper flakes
12 baguette slices, toasted
180 g ricotta (or blue cheese)

Heat oven to 205°C. Combine olive oil, grapes, olives, 1 ts rosemary, a couple pinches of sea salt and pepper flakes in a baking dish or roasting pan. Roast until grapes are wilted and leaking juices, about 35 to 55 m, rolling ingredients around in pan a few times throughout roasting time to encourage even cooking.
Slather each toast with ricotta, then heap each with grapes, olives and pan juices. Finish with remaining rosemary and eat immediately.

*Double ingredients for a small party.

Ajo blanco (Malaga cold soup)

For ➍
200 g almonds
75 cl iced water
4-5 slices stale white bread with crusts removed, soaked in water
4 garlic cloves
1 ts salt
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 tbs sherry vinegar
ground white pepper
grapes

Drop the almonds in cooking water, leave for a few m. Dry them and rub off their skin.

In a food processor, grind almonds as finely as possible. Add 10 cl of the water, then squeeze the bread and add to the almonds with the garlic.

With the machine running, add more water, the olive oil and the vinegar.

Chill for 5 h, and serve with halved, seedless white grapes.

A favourite of Malaga, this dish seems to date back to the Moorish times in Spain. It is related to gazpacho and the modern, less garlicky, versions of white gazpacho.

Schiacciata con l'uva (Etruscan grape-filled bread)

For ➏
1 kg blue grapes (or blueberries)
500 g flour
1 package dry yeast
100 g sugar
4 tbs olive oil
1 branch rosemary
25 cl warm water
honey
grape juice

Heat the rosemary branch in olive oil. Let it cool.
Dissolve the yeast in 25 cl of warm water.
Place the flour in a large bowl. Pour yeast mixture into the center and stir.
Remove the rosemary from the oil. Add the cooled oil to the dough.
Add 4 tbs of sugar and knead until smooth, for 10 m.
Put in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size. Punch down the dough and divide in half.
Roll out half of the dough to fit in a round or rectangular pan.
Cover with half the grapes, removed from their stems.
Sprinkle with half the remaining sugar and drizzle with olive oil.
Roll out the other half of the dough to fit. Cover the grapes, sealing the edges with the bottom layer of dough. Push down to crush the grapes. Cover top layer of dough with remaining grapes and repeat the process. Sprinkle with sugar, drizzle with olive oil, and crush the grapes.
Sprinkle with sugar and drizzle with olive oil. For an Etruscan touch, drizzle with honey.
Bake at 180°C until golden. Baste with some grape juice while it's baking. Bake for 45 m.

Nowadays, this is traditionally served as a dessert bread, or a nice comfort bread, and some special treat during the Tuscany wine harvest season. As is often the case in Tuscany, it is said to have already been popular with the Etruscans, well known for their lust of life. Schiacciata comes from the Italian verb 'schiacciare' meaning 'flattened' or 'crushed'. The recipe is related to the American pizza bianco and to the schiacciata alla Fiorentina.
Image shows dancing Etruscans with a wine flask on a tomb wall in Tarquinia.
Read more on 'Etruscan' food: Etruscan tuna fish.

Banana salad

For ➋
2 bananas, ripe and firm
150 g seedless grapes, halved
35 cl whipping cream
½ ts cardamom powder
100 g halved roasted peanuts
¼ tbs lemon juice

Chill bananas 1 h before chopping.
Chop bananas. Sprinkle lemon juice over bananas and toss to coat evenly.
Beat cream till stiff peaks form. Gently toss in bananas and other ingredients.
Serve chilled.

Bahia clericot

For ➍
1 bottle dry white wine
1 diced apple
1 peeled orange, sliced
2 peeled peaches, diced
½ pineapple, peeled & diced
a few cut strawberries
a few seedless grapes
1-3 tbs of sugar

Put all the fruit in a pitcher. Add sugar and enough white wine to cover the fruit. Let the fruit absorb the alcohol for a couple of hours in the fridge.

When ready to serve, add the remaining wine and a lot of ice.

*Essential is the combination of white wine and fruit, most fruit is suitable.

This classic Brazil summer breeze drink was invented in colonial Punjab in the 19th century. Let's call it Indian and English as well.
For a stronger version, see another clericot.