Concord Grape Pie

Concord grapes are my favorite local food. If you live somewhere else and you can't get Concord grapes your pie will taste different. You see "foxy" often as a description of the taste. Really it's what we know as Kool Aid grape flavor, only not artificial tasting.

The skins, thick and sour, the flesh so sweet and juicy. They have pits. People seem to have an issue with that but I just swallow the whole thing and you really don't notice them.

Neil wants me to make concord grape pie ice cream, that would mean that I'd have to make a vanilla ice cream and fold in several large scoops of pie, sounds good right?

Last night (Saturday) Debbie came over and I made my first Concord Grape pie of the season - the video and the recipe are below.

Really, seriously: if you live somewhere you can get Concord grapes you must try this recipe or get one of your friends who likes to bake to make it for you.

Concord Grape Pie

Sift together 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 T sugar, together in a large bowl.

Work 12 T butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.

Sprinkle in up to 8 tbsp ice cold water, stirring dough with a fork until it just holds together.

Press dough into a rough ball, then transfer to a lightly floured surface Give the dough several quick kneads until smooth.

Divide dough into 2 balls, one slightly larger than the other, wrap in plastic wrap then press down on the balls to make two disc shapes, refrigerate for at least 2 hours (at the minimum).

Rinse and remove stems from 2 lbs. of concord grapes.

Remove the skins from each grape and put the pulp into a medium sized pot and the skins into a large bowl.

Cook pulp over medium heat, stirring often, until soft, 8-10 minutes, then strain the hot pulp mixture through a sieve into the bowl with the skins, pressing on solids with the back of a spoon. Discard seeds.

Stir 1 Cup sugar and 3 T Tapioca Starch(found in Asian food stores) or quick cooking tapioca (or Organic non GMO Cornstarch) into the grape mixture and set aside to cool completely.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll the larger dough ball out on a lightly floured surface into a 12" round, then fit into a 9" pie

plate. Trim sides of excess.

Pour the grape filling into the pastry, scatter a 1 T unsalted butter cut into small pieces onto the top of the grape filling.

Roll the remaining dough ball out on a lightly floured surface into a 10" round, if you want you can cut a small hole in the top or use your favorite cookie cutter pattern, alternately you can make several slits in the top once you have place it over the filling.

Cover the filling with pastry round and crimp the edges to create a seal (although, it always seems no matter how hard I try some bubbling, grape filling manages to erupt at the edges anyway).

Whisk together 1 egg yolk and 1 T cream and brush over the top of the pie then generously sprinkle with sugar, about a 1/3 cup, I like to use larger crystal sugar like Turbinado.

Bake for 20 minutes at 400F, then reduce oven temperature to 350F and continue baking until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is bubbling, 45 minutes more, or until the crust is nicely browned and the filling is bubbling.

Set pie aside to cool completely, overnight is ideal.

I like serving this with a big dollop of freshly whipped, unsweetened cream, but vanilla ice cream would also be tasty.