Blue Cheese Grape "Truffles"

My family loves blue cheese. One of our favorite recipes is homemade "hats" (wonderful doughy pasta from a Pasta Shop in our city) with broccoli, garlic and olive oil and some blue cheese added in to the hot pasta. It takes on a wonderful creamy texture. Another popular way to have blue cheese here is to have it crumbled on your salad with Italian dressing over it.

When I found this recipe in a magazine several years ago, it intrigued me and I knew I had to try it. I have also seen this in Tyler Florence's cookbook. These make nice little bites for your cocktail hour. Grapes were on sale this week for 99 cents a pound and very sweet. The sweetness is a nice contrast to the duskiness of the blue cheese and the pistachios add a nice crunchy outer coating. We are having our friends over for cocktails this Saturday before we go out for our Valentine's Day dinner. I am going to make some of these to start off the evening. It will be just enough!

Pistachio-Crusted Blue Cheese Grape "Truffles"
By Bill Brodsky, executive chef, Twenty-Eight Atlantic at the Wequassett Inn, Cape Cod
Makes one dozen truffles
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons Great Hill Blue Cheese (or other quality blue)
3 Tablespoons water
2 oz heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup pistachios, finely chopped
12 red seedless grapes, washed and dried
Method:
1. Using a processor with a sharp blade, pulse the pistachios until they are finely chopped. (Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl after every pulse or the pistachios will be turned into paste). They can be chopped by hand if a processor is not available.
2. Once chopped, transfer the pistachios to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and dry in a 200-degree oven for one to one and a half hours. Stir the pistachios every ten minutes. If your oven has convection, turning the fan on high will speed up the drying process. When the pistachios are dry, remove them from the oven and let them cool to room temperature before transferring into a shallow bowl or pie pan.
3. Purée the blue cheese with the water in a blender till smooth. Add the cream and purée approximately five to ten seconds till the mixture starts to slightly thicken. (If the mixture from the blender gets too thick, remove it and add a little more water to thin it down.)
4. Place the mixture from the blender into a bowl and add the salt and pepper. Reserve the mixture in a refrigerator for ten minutes prior to use.
5. To assemble: Dip a grape into the blue cheese mixture and shake off an excess cheese. Roll the blue cheese coated grape in the chopped pistachios and place on a plate. You can use a fork to facilitate the dipping and rolling of the grapes. When all the grapes are crusted with the pistachios, chill the entire plate for at least ten minutes or until needed. Serve.