Late harvest grapes and fresh of-the-season walnuts
{A duo of sweet, tart, meltingly tender and crunchy}
Even though grapes and walnuts are available year round, the versions of each which make their appearance in the late fall/early winter season make a compelling case that seasonal farmer’s market and roadside stand products are often tastier than anything found in the supermarket and certainly worth the journey to source them. Try some if they appear at your local farmers’ market supplied by orchards and vineyards within a hundred or so miles of where you live and dazzled by the sheer taste of these seasonal joys, you, too, can put to rest the common conception that things, at least in the food world, aren’t what they used to be.
At my local farmer’s market, grapes come in many colors and flavor profiles, with the best being Muscat of Alexandria (with their highly perfumed albeit seedy flesh and somewhat tough skin), the Autumn Royal, black, elongated and juicy, and the intensely sweet small Ruby Red (these last two thankfully both seedless), in addition to the sweet and perfumed Concord and Kyoho, its Japanese variant whose skin easily slips off from the flesh.
The dessert inspired by these seasonal specialties wraps the fruits and nuts in a crisp, flaky puff pastry and is set off by a sweet-wine-based frothy zabaglione sauce. The jalousie is best served the day it is baked but if that’s not possible, just rewarm it in a moderate to hot oven to re-crisp the pastry a bit and then serve it with the sauce, quickly made just serving the dessert or straight out of the refrigerator if you have made it advance. If desired, whip a bit of lightly sweetened cream for a cool accompaniment to the warmth on the plate and give a nod of thanks to the early winter kitchen gods who conspired to make the pastry ineffably flaky and buttery and stood on your shoulder while you whisked the zabaglione sauce to perfection.
