Concord Grape Pie
Concord grape season is dwindling down (although I'm sure there are some wine grapes that grow late into September), so I wanted to share with you all a unique pie before grapes disappear from the fruit stands. I grew up in Western NY, and one of my fondest memories is Irene Bouchard's grape pies. Vineyards in Western NY have to deal with cold winters, so it has a grape variety that you don't really hear about in other states, like California wine country (or maybe you do, I've just rarely hear of them). Concord grapes, a.k.a. the grapiest grapes of all grapes, is in relative abundance come fall season in NY. And since this grape imparts a musky taste to wine, its bounty is better served when wrapped up in all sorts of grape pies, pastries, and jams. If you like pies that tend on the tarter side, you'll love this.( Collapse )
Irene thickened up the pie with tapioca starch (though any kind of starch can be used), because let's face it, grapes are full of liquid and the pie fillings comes out super runny. Depending on how jammy you like your pie (or runny), you can use flour, tapioca starch, or tapioca pearls. Personally, I like my filling on the firmer side; once a pie starts falling apart, I feel like I'm losing the ratio of fruit to crust, and then I'm thinking about how I'd rather just have a crumble or crisp and some buttery brown sugar tidbits. Point is, I get distracted with runny pies. In terms of this grape pie, I've used both tapioca flour and tapioca pearls, and find that I prefer the pearls over the flour. Not only do the pearls firm up the filling, but they also provide an interesting aesthetic; looks like blueberry pie, tastes like grape.
Concord Grape Pie
makes 4 small pies or 1 large pie
for the pastry
8 oz salted cold butter
250 g (approx 2-1/4 C) flour
1/4 C ice water
sugar to sprinkle
for the filling
1/2 C small tapioca pearls
3/4-1 C granulated sugar
2 lbs of concord or concord-like grapes, rinsed
Note: alternatively, the second time I made this pie, you can use a combination of white and red concord grapes, which made the filling less sweet and lighter purple in color
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees and liberally butter your pie dish.
Pie crust: measure out your flour and pile it all onto an even, clean surface. Cut your cold butter into chunks and nestle the pieces into the flour. If you had a food processor, you can put your flour and butter into the processor and pulse until crumbly, but I prefer to do this pie crusts by hand. Using a thin edge (pastry knife you have it. I use a metal spatula), cut the butter pieces into the flour, scraping the flour occasionally towards the center to reform the mound. After all the butter has been cut into little pieces and is evenly distributed throughout the flour, make a little well and start trickling in the water, stirring and mounding until the pastry starts to come together. Then knead until dough-like and roll it into a ball, store loosely wrapped in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
Filling: First, the tapioca. Take your small tapioca pearls, cover them with water, and boil as well, stirring so they don't stick to the pot, until they are translucent but still have a little itty bitty tiny bit of white in the center (you can cook them all the way through, just makes them harder to drain). It'll look like fish eggs or something. Then in a sieve, rinse and drain the tapioca to the best of your ability. If the texture of tapioca pearls is too weird for you, you can also pulse the tapioca pearls in a food processor to a rough powder before you boil them in water. In this case however, you'll get a thick goo and won't be able to "drain" the tapioca, making your pie a little bit more runny.
While that's going on, squeeze the grapes out of their skins, reserving the skins in one bowl and pulp (and seeds) in another. Some notes. Concord grapes, when squeezed, shoot out of the skin, which is pretty much how you tell if you have the right grape or not. If they don't shoot out, not the right grape for this pie. In my experience, this is the only requirement. After shucking your peels, put the pulp in a pot and boil on the stove until all the seeds have separated from the pulp. Then using a colander or a sieve, collect the pulp and strain out the seeds. In regards to the peels, since I don't like having large pieces of peel in my pie, though I definitely need them for the color and taste, I pulse my skins in the food processor until they're more broken up and liquified. After that is done, you now have pretty much all the components of your pie filling. Mix together the chopped up skins, the pulp now devoid of seeds, the tapioca, and add 3/4 to 1 C sugar to taste (adjust depending on how sweet or tart you like your pie filling). Trust me, the room will smell like grape-heaven, or like someone took Welch's grape soda, aerosolized it, and sprayed it all over your kitchen for his or her own personal enjoyment.
Final steps. Take out your chilled dough and, on a floured surface, roll out thinly. Lay gently into your pie pan of choice, making sure the pie crust overlaps the edges. It is important that you get a tight seal around the outer crust, cause this pie will bubble up and you'll lose a lot of filling out of the side if there are gaps in your seal. After the crusts are assembled, pour the filling into the pie crust, cover it with the top crust, and slice holes in the top to let out the steam as it cooks. Sprinkle sugar all over the top. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, or until insides are bubbling and crust is brown on top. Once the crust is brown, remove the pie from the oven and let it cool.
Hope you guys enjoy this strange but tasty NY pie! For a more complete post, check it out at my blog.