Saying “Yes” to the best in seasonal produce when approached by companies like Melissa’s Produce, is one of the perks of being a food writer and occasional recipe developer. I’m grateful to receive some fingerling potatoes or plumcots or, most recently, champagne grapes to play around with in the kitchen; it saves on food costs and provides inspiration for creating a seasonal dish.When it comes to sharing more ways of “eating the rainbow”, I’m always in.
It’s fascinating to taste, learn about, and experiment with hybrids such as plumcots and apriums and I always know that Melisssa’s has the highest quality produce available. I’ve been buying their fruits and vegetables as well as shallots, pine nuts, wonton wrappers, and other packaged speciality items in the produce section for years.
Champagne grapes are those tiny, seedless, sublimely sweet, deep purple grapes that are popular as a dessert fruit and gourmet garnish. I love their little pop and burst of flavor and think they are the ultimate grape accompaniment for a cheese board. Cheese boards are at the top of the list of culinary delights that we sorely miss savoring as a result of Don’s sodium restriction – right up there with sausage and bacon. We try to indulge in dairy (for us, that’s cheese!) in small quantities and, fortunately, I recently discovered Karoun Labne, a Mediterranean kefir (yogurt) cheese that is very low in sodium, creamy, flavorful, and satisfies our cheesy desire. This yogurt cheese is a lower calorie alternative to cream cheese and served as a delicious substitute for feta cheese in the Mediterranean eggplant rolls I made for last month’s Greek Meze 5 Star Makeover; it would also do lasagna proud. And, I discovered it makes a mean white pizza, too!
Not only is this pizza a perfect union of sweet and savory, the yogurt cheese makes it lower in calories, fat and sodium. Savor the flavors of a gourmet cheese board- just add wine! The crispy on the outside, soft on the inside pizza crust is Marcella Hazan’s basic pizza dough recipe (so you know it’s great!) and only takes a few minutes to prepare, just allow time for it to rise (about 3 hours) – if you’re short on time, use your favorite purchased pizza dough.
- 1 pizza dough recipe here*, rolled out to 12"
- 1 tablespoon black truffle oil
- 1 cup Karoun Labne yogurt cheese
- 1 cup champagne grapes
- 1/4 cup gorgonzola or blue cheese crumbles
- 1 ounce or 1/4 cup, Melissa's pine nuts
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- cornmeal for rolling out dough
- Garnish with fresh thyme sprig optional
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Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Preheat pizza stone or baking sheet in oven.
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Sprinkle pastry sheet or large cutting board with cornmeal. Roll out the dough to roughly a 12" circle. Brush with truffle oil.
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Spread yogurt cheese onto pizza shell using a knife or frosting spatula. Sprinkle with champagne grapes, followed by the gorgonzola crumbles, pine nuts, thyme and lemon zest. Carefully transfer to pizza stone or baking sheet.
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Bake for 30 minutes or until pizza crust is lightly browned.
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Remove from oven. Let the pizza set for 5 minutes before cutting.
Don’t be surprised by the frothy bubbles emitted from the baked champagne grapes. So festive – maybe that’s how they got their name!
Actually, these tiny, decorative grapes are often draped over champagne or wine glasses – hence the name. They are a grape variety called Zante Currant or Black Corinth, (named for the Greek city where they were grown more than 2,000 years ago) and are used to make dried currants. Champagne grapes are available through Melissa’s Produce through Labor Day.
Disclosure: I received produce from Melissa’s Produce, all opinions are my own.
I’ve been excited to see this post since you shared the picture on Facebook. It looks and sounds really fantastic, and you are lucky that you have access to such beautiful produce. Labne is a personal favorite of mine and I’m glad that it makes a great white pizza! I will keep that in mind 🙂
Thanks, Victoria 🙂 Yes, we are lucky to have such a variety of fresh produce here in SoCal. Chloe used to drink kefir when she was a toddler and I had no idea that kefir cheese existed – so happy to “discover” Labne!
Just saw these sold at the grocery store the other day as ‘mini grapes’. Beyond cute!!
You have to try them, Stephanie – they’re beyond delicious, too!
Champagne grapes are so delicious! (Love them frozen, too). This is such a great idea for a pizza, with all the components of a cheese board in one place. Pinned! 🙂
I just saw champagne grapes ate the farmers market but didn’t buy any as I’m going out of town tomorrow!
Now I see this to further rub salt into the wound,lol!
I’ve pinned your recipe for later, now here’s hoping the grapes are still available;-)
I hope so too, Patty – you will love it. Where are you off to this time?
I love champagne grapes. I didn’t know they were in season already. I haven’t seen them yet in the northeast. This is a great way to incorporate them into something sweet and savory.
Is it normal to be totally infatuated with a pizza? Those Champagne grapes are just gorgeous and the combination of blue and Labne cheeses with pine nuts and truffle oil..sensational! Pinned! (I like saying that now that I’ve joined, but it’ll wear off soon) ;D
Lol! No, I consider pizza to be its on food group and I did a happy dance over this one 🙂
Gorgeous pizza topping…I noticed that you used lots of pine nuts ;-))
Hi Angie – Good observation! I like the crunch (not to mention the nutritional value) of nut in almost anything and, recently, I’ve been on a pine nut binge 🙂
What BEAUTIFUL grapes. I’ve never tried champagne grapes before (what a shame) but I have to get my hands on them now. I would love to have this for dinner tomorrow night. Thank you for sharing! Now off to dream delicious dreams!
Stunning! I have long wanted to make grape schiacciata and this is just as fantastic – more chewy, dense dough. I love this and it is beautiful, as well.
Oh I need to make this gorgeous pizza!! First, I need to find some lovely champagne grapes:-) What a beautiful mix of flavors! Hugs, Terra
This is so pretty. I spotted some champagne grapes at the market the other day and had a hard time resisting getting a bunch or two. Now I might have to go back for this pizza–so pretty and elegant! I can imagine the grapes popping in my mouth!
I just bought some champagne grapes and am so thankful I happened on your post again…the perfect thing for them. This looks AMAZING Priscilla!
The list of ingredients are the same as the instructions in the printable recipe.
Hi Cathy – sorry about that! This must have happened when I converted to the new recipe format. I will have to go back to my archives and find the original recipe. I’ll correct here and email to you. Thanks for letting me know!