I know what you’re thinking. Grape what? But if you’ve ever picked up some Concord grapes at the farmer’s market, and smelled their heavenly goodness, it doesn’t seem like such a crazy idea. Plus, three different people contributed grape pie recipes to Simply in Season.
It is a little labor intensive, though. First you have to remove the skins from 3 cups of concords, set aside, then simmer the pulp in a saucepan for 5 minutes, THEN shove the pulp through a sieve to remove the seeds, and add the de-seeded pulp to the skins, along with 1 C sugar, 3 T flour, and 1 T lemon juice, and put all of that in a pastry shell. I decided to make up for the time I spent skinning grapes by using a ready-made pie crust 😀
For the topping, combine 1 C flour, 1/2 C sugar, 2 T butter (softened), 2 T oil, and sprinkle over the grape mixture. Bake at 425F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes.
The verdict: I could hardly wait when it came out of the oven. The grapes had magically gelled to a beautiful purple and it smelled wonderful. I did a little searching online to find out if it should be served chilled or what, most seemed to say to serve at room temperature. I also ran across a version that calls for port–which I might try since I had lots of grapes leftover that I ended up freezing.
We had grape pie for the first time about 4 years ago on vacation in the NY Finger Lakes Region. It was a rainy day and we stopped in the little town of Naples which was having a Fall Festival and there was a grape pie contest! Talk about delicious…we were hooked! We bought quart jars of the filling to bring home…yummy! It’s well worth the work to taste this wonderful pie! I love your blog! 🙂