Concord Grape Crumble Tart:The Recipe

 

A couple of weeks ago I hastily posted about a Concord Grape Crumble Tart that I made, but didn't really give you the recipe, just a bunch of links to collect and try to assemble it on your own.  Yesterday I bought a huge basket of Concord Grapes and it reminded me that I wanted to post the complete recipe in it's entirety.  I'm making it today so stayed tuned as I will post more pictures and update you on any variations I make.

Concord Grape Crumble Tart 

For the pastry: This is basically a cookie dough recipe.  Its brilliance is that it is so simple, it doesn't need to be baked blind with weights or anything fussy like that.  By hand or with a paddle attachment in a standing mixture add 1/2 cup of unsalted butter and 3/4 cup cane sugar.  Cream together then add: 1 large egg yolk, a 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract, a large pinch of salt (1/4 teaspoon) and mix.  Slowly add 1 cup of all purpose flour and 1/4 cup ground almonds (or you can just use all flour in which case use Vanilla extract not almond).  Mix until it has just come together, press into a disk shape between two pieces of parchment, fold the extra parchment so the dough is well protected and chill in the fridge for an hour.

For the filling: de-stem and rinse 2 lbs of Concord grapes.  Have a medium sized bowl and a sauce pan at the ready.  Squeeze the inside of the grapes into the sauce pan and put the skins in the bowl.  

When you have done all the grapes put the sauce pan on the stove under a medium heat and cook for about 8-10 minutes, until the pulp has softened and become juicy.  

Put a fine sieve over the bowl with the grape skins and pour the pulp mixture through the sieve. Discard the seeds.

Add 3/4 cups sugar,3 T of tapioca starch and a pinch of salt to the grape mixture.  

Stir to incorporate and place in the fridge until needed.

For the Crumble: Lightly toast 1/3 cup slivered almonds, when just slightly brown process briefly in a food processor.  In a medium bowl add 3/4 cups all purpose flour, 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, 4 T Demarara (or brown) sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon and the processed almonds, mix briefly, then add 7 tablespoons of unsalted butter.  I use my fingers to mix it all together.  The crumble should be moist and oh so slightly sticky.

To assemble: Preheat the oven to 350 F

  

Roll out the pastry between the parchment paper.  Remove the top paper and flip the dough into a fluted 9" tart pan and remove the second piece of parchment.

Bake for 12 minutes, remove from oven and add the filling and top it with the crumble.  Return to oven and bake for 40-50 minutes, it should be bubbling around the edges with it is fully cooked.

Cool for at least 15 minutes on a rack before removing the tart ring.    Best served chilled with a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream.