Scarlett WConcord Grape Pie
March 21st 2007 13:55
Concord Grape Pie
About Pie
A pie is a baked food, with a baked shell usually made of pastry that covers or completely contains a filling of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, cheeses, creams, chocolate, custards, nuts, or other sweet or savoury ingredients. Pies can be either “one-crust”, where the filling is placed in a dish and covered with a pastry/potato mash top before baking, or “two-crust”, with the filling completely enclosed in the pastry shell. Some pies have only a bottom crust, generally if they have a sweet filling that does not require cooking. These bottom-crust-only pies may be known as tarts or tartlets. An example of a bottom-crust-only pie that is savoury rather than sweet is a quiche. Tarte Tatin is a one-crust fruit pie that is served upside-down, with the crust underneath. Blind-baking is used to develop a crust’s crispiness, and keep it from becoming soggy under the burden of a very liquid filling. If the crust of the pie requires much more cooking than the chosen filling, it may also be blind-baked before the filling is added and then only briefly cooked or refrigerated. Pie fillings range in size from tiny bite-size party pies or small tartlets, to single-serve pies (e.g. a pastry) and larger pies baked in a dish and eaten by the slice. The type of pastry used depends on the filling. It may be either a butter-rich flaky or puff pastry, a sturdy shortcrust pastry, or, in the case of savoury pies, a hot water crust pastry.
About Nutmeg
The nutmegs Muristica are a genus of evergreen trees indigenous to tropical Southeast Asia and Australasia. They are important for two spices derived from the fruit, nutmeg and mace.
Nutmeg is the actual seed of the tree, roughly egg-shape and about 20 – 30 mm long and 15 – 18 mm wide, and weighing between 5 and 10 grams dried, while mace is the dried “lacy” reddish covering or arillus of the seed.
Several other commercial products are also produced from the trees, including essential oils, extracted oleoresins, and nutmeg butter.
The pericarp (fruit/pod) is used in Grenada to make a jam called Morne Delice. In Indonesia, the fruit is sliced finely, cooked and crystallised to make a fragrant candy called manisan pala (“nutmeg sweets”).
The most important species commercially is the common or Fragrant Nutmeg Myristica fragrans, native to the Banda Islands of Indonesia; it is also grown in the Caribbean, especially in Grenada. Other specis include Papuan Nutmeg M. argentea from New Guinea, and Bombay Nutmeg M. malabarica from India; both are used as adulterants of M. fragrans products.
INGREDIENTS
Makes one 8- or 9-inch pie
For the pastry dough
3 cups flour
1½ cups sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups cold sweet butter, cut into pieces
For the pastry dough
3 pounds Concord grapes
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
freshly grated nutmeg (optical)
For the pastry dough
1 egg
1 – 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter and cut into the dry ingredients with a fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.
2. Toss in just enough cold water to make the dough stick together (3 – 5 tablespoons); do not overmix.
3. Form into 2 flat cakes, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 15 – 30 minutes.
4. Working over a large bowl to catch juices, split grapes and remove pits with the tip of a sharp knife.
5. Place grapes in a large sieve over the bowl and press them gentle with the back of a spoon to extract ¾ cup of juice. Set grapes aside and reserve juice.
6. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
7. In a medium saucepan, combine grape juice, sugar, and cornstarch. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 – 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
8. Stir in the pitted grapes.
9. Remove from the heat and let cool.
10. Roll out one part of pastry dough into a ⅛-inch thick round, 10 -11 inches in diameter.
11. Press dough gently into an 8- or 9-inch pie pan. Trim edges and crimp to make a decorative border.
12. Turn the cooled filling into pie shell. If desired, sprinkle with freshly grated nutmeg.
13. Roll out remaining pastry dough to a round ⅛-inch thick and cut out several large grape-leaf-shaped pieces. Use the back of a sharp knife to outline veins on each leaf.
14. Arrange leaves, stem ends toward the center, over the pie, overlapping them slightly so that the top of the pie is completely covered. Chill for 10 – 15 minutes.
15. Beat the egg and cream together well and brush over the top of the pie.
16. Bake 15 minutes at 400 ºF.
17. Reduce heat to 350 ºF and bake for about 40 minutes longer, or until the top is golden brown and the juices are bubbling.
**From “Outdoor Entertaining” and “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”**
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