Vine leaf mozzarella parcels with anchovy, lemon and grilled grapes

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I know I have shared this dish with you before but as I will be including in my Christmas festivities, I thought I would share it with you again.

This is a wonderful dish to serve as either an entrée or as part of a mezze. You could serve as a light meal but it is a surprising rich dish, and I think that it really does work well as part of a mezze. The grilled grapes alone are fantastic and work really well with grilled chicken, so keep them in mind.

I like to serve these with a crisp dry Italian-style white such as a vermentino.

Vine leaf mozzarella parcels with anchovy, lemon and grilled grapes

18 brined vine leaves, rinsed, for wrapping

6 buffalo mozzarella (about 250gm each)

6 anchovy fillets, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup (loosely packed) thyme

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Finely grated rind of 3 lemons, plus extra lemon wedges to serve

For drizzling: olive oil

To serve: crusty bread

Grilled grapes with herb dressing

200 g seedless red grapes, snipped into small bunches

125 ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

1 tablespoon each coarsely of chopped flat-leaf parsley, thyme, rosemary and basil

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 120C. Overlap three vine leaves on a work surface to form a circle, top with a mozzarella ball, scatter over some anchovy, thyme, garlic and lemon rind. Drizzle with olive oil, season to taste with pepper, then wrap to enclose. Repeat with remaining vine leaves, mozzarella, anchovies, thyme, garlic and lemon rind to form six parcels.

Heat a large char-grill pan over medium heat. Drizzle each parcel with a little olive oil and grill, turning occasionally, until mozzarella is melted (7-10 minutes). Arrange on an oven tray lined with baking paper and place in oven to keep warm.

Meanwhile, for grilled grapes with herb dressing, drizzle grapes with a little olive oil and grill, turning occasionally, until golden (3-5 minutes). Whisk remaining oil, herbs and garlic in a bowl, season to taste, add grilled grapes, toss to coat and serve with warm mozzarella parcels, crusty bread and lemon wedges.