Grape Pie
Rebecca Beaton shares her recipe for Concord Grape Pie, which won second place in the Stone Barns pie contest. Part 1.
Concord Grape Pie
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The Martha Stewart Show, November Fall 2006
- Yield Makes one 9-inch pie
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Ingredients
- All-purpose flour, for work surface
- Pate Brisee
- 7 1/2 to 8 cups Concord grapes, rinsed
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 4 1/2 to 5 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 large egg
Directions
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll 1 piece of pate brisee into a 15-inch round. With a dry pastry brush, sweep off the excess flour; fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate, pressing it into the edges. Trim to a 1-inch overhang all around. Crimp edge as desired. Cover with plastic wrap; chill pie shell until firm, about 30 minutes. Repeat process for rolling out dough. Using a 4-inch grape leaf cookie cutter, cut out 4 leaves from dough. Transfer to a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
- Remove skins from grapes by pinching the ends of each grape, reserving both the pulp and skins separately, discarding any accumulated liquid.
- Place pulp in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook until the seeds separate from the pulp and the pulp breaks down, about 6 minutes. Strain mixture through a sieve into the bowl with the reserved skins; discard solids. Let cool to room temperature before placing in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove grape mixture from refrigerator. Stir in sugar and cornstarch. Pour into prepared pie shell. Beat egg with 1 tablespoon water. Brush edge of pie shell with egg mixture, reserving any remaining mixture. Transfer pie to oven; bake 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees, and continue baking until filling jiggles when shaken, about 30 minutes. Transfer pie to a wire cooling rack; let cool overnight.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove reserved grape leaves from refrigerator and brush with remaining egg and water mixture. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack; let cool.
- Before serving, place grape leaves on top of filling.
This pie is time consuming - however, my mother's method of cooking the grapes for hours, then hanging them inside of a cheesecloth, dripping over a pan for what seemed like days was much more work. I think this pie is worth the effort! What a great way to make the most from this brief but delicious crop! I have used the decorative “leaves” on top of the pie before, and it really does make the pie even more inviting – yet, I do like the idea of making the crumb topping as someone else suggested.
This recipe is way too time consuming. I have made grape pie many times and making this over two days isn't necessary for a very delicious pie. Also, an alternative to the grape leaf top crust (although it looks terrific) is to make a crumb topping of 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and mix with 1/4 cup cold butter until crumbly. Bake your pie for 25 minutes, then add the crumb topping for the last 15 minutes. Wonderful!
Incredibly time consuming but DELICIOUS to make as a once-a-year treat, especially if someone in your family is a big fan of concord grapes. Because Martha's recipes rarely give a time estimate, be forewarned that stemming the grapes, then rinsing them, then separating the skins and the pulp, will take you at least an hour and a half. I like to do this kind of stuff while watching a movie!