The Houndstooth Gourmet

At the West End Alexandria Farmers Market this week, I bought concord grapes at Papa’s Orchard. I had never eaten a concord grape-well, besides jelly that is. OK, I’ll cop to drinking Manischewitz wine and liking it too. So, when I popped one in my mouth, the first thing that struck me was that the grape tasted….grape-y! It tasted like grape bubble gum, or grape water ice. While the skin was a tad bitter, the inside of the grape was intense.

With grapes in hand, at home I began googling “concord grape sauce” and found many recipes that paired the grape with pork. Although it sounded delicious, I’ve done the pork with fruit thing a lot, and was looking for something along the lines of dessert and I eventual found a dish which had inspired me before. Stephanie Izard, the most recent winner of Top Chef, made an amazing gorgonzola cheesecake with sweet potato puree and a concord grape sauce. It was a risky dish, but a true winner according to the judges, so I took her idea and applied it to this blintz dish.

With equal parts Gorgonzola, ricotta and cream cheese, the filling for these blintzes is creamy and piquant, and plays nicely against the sweet grape sauce, thickened by reduction.

Gorgonzola Cheese Blintzes with a Concord Grape Sauce*

makes about 15 blintzes

Ingredients

For the Blintzes (from How Stuff Works)

• 3 eggs
• 1-1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup All-Purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature

For the Filling

• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/2 cup crumbles Gorgonzola or Gorgonzola dolce

For the Concord Grape Sauce

• 4 cups concord grapes (reserve a small handful to garnish at serving)
• 3 tablespoons water
• 3-4 tablespoons sugar to taste

For the Topping

• sour cream

Directions

For the Blintzes

Combine all ingredients except butter in a food processor or blender. Mix until fully incorporated. Heat a 6-8 inches nonstick pan over medium heat. Dab a pastry brush into butter and spread a small amount in pan to coat. Add enough batter to just coat the pan. Swirl pan to evenly distribute batter. Cook 1-2 minutes on each side, allowing blintz to get golden brown. Transfer blintz to plate and stack them as you go.

For the Filling

Combine ricotta, Gorgonzola and cream cheese in food processor until smooth.

For the Concord Grape Sauce

Heat a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat. Add grapes, water and sugar. Bring to a low simmer and cook uncovered for 20 minutes. Strain grapes through a chinois or fine sieve. Return sauce to pan and simmer on low until the sauce is thickened.

To Assemble

Add 2 teaspoons of filling to the top 1/3 of blintz. Roll over top and fold in sides. Roll blintz like a fajita to make a package. Brown blintz in a non-stick pan using small pat of butter. Cook on each side for 1-2 minutes, until the blintz is browned. Plate blintz and drizzle grape sauce over top and sides. Add a small dollop of sour cream on top and garnish with concord grapes.

*Everything can be made a day or two ahead of time, then reheated and assembled prior to serving. The blintzes can be wrapped and frozen for one month.

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Tags: blintz, grapes, dessert, Recipe //