Grape Pie

I wait all year for this. Concord grapes, aka REAL grapes, are only around in late August/Early September. My grandmother made a killer grape pie, and this is my attempt at replicating it. This pie takes a while, so save this for a lazy Sunday. Or, in my case, a lazy Monday.

Recommended tunes: Saves the Day: Ups and Downs: Early Recordings and B-Sides. It is a nice and long album and it will keep you pumped on pie and life, well, kind of.


1 Recipe Pate Brisee (subsitute Earth Balance for butter and do not add the salt!)
5 Cups (about 2 quarts) concord grapes, washed
1 Cup sugar
1/4 C flour
1 tsp. lemon juice
Pinch of salt

You will need a large bowl and a medium saucepan. Squeeze the contents of each grape into the saucepan. Put the grape skins in the bowl. This is surprisingly easy, it just takes some time.

Boil the grape guts on medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. This will break them down a bit and make it easier to separate the seeds from the pulp.

Now is a good time to preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Use a metal strainer with a bowl underneath to strain the seeds from the pulp. You'll have to use a spoon to push the pulp through. Add the grape skins back into the smooth, seedless pulp. Let them sit for a few minutes. Or not. It will look like this before you stir it:



Add the sugar, flour, lemon juice, and salt to the grape mixture.

On a floured surface, gently roll out half of the pie dough larger than size of your pie plate. Gently drape dough over pie plate and lightly press into plate. This can be tricky. I like to use plastic wrap on my counter for ease of transport. If your dough has ripped or you just suck at rolling out dough, just try your best to patch things together.

Pour the grape filling into the pie crust. Roll out the second layer of dough to the size of your pie, drape over pie, and pinch edges to seal. Ideally, you would now make the edges pretty. With a sharp knife, poke a few air vents on top. If you'd like, you can brush a little soy milk on top and sprinkle with sugar.

Place pie in oven and bake at 400 for 40-45 minutes, or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.

Apparently my air vents did not serve their purpose and the filling kind of oozed out the edges. Oh well. I think it is still a beautiful pie. Well, it is much more beautiful in person, believe me.

Last week, I went to NY to visit my best friend. I needed to get
away one last time before the craziness of school started. It turned out to be a lovely trip, complete with daily ice cream cones. I even ran into a vegan blogger, rachaelrayforever! I was so thrilled to see him, even though he probably had no clue who I was. I got that twist cone from Lula's and it was absolutely wonderful. If you haven't been to Lula's yet, you must go. They make most of their ice creams in-house and they have lots of interesting toppings (see glass jars behind us) and flavors. I seem to only ever want flavors involving peanut butter or chocolate, though. I wonder if they ever have chocolate-hazelnut? I'd die.

CA and I had a lovely pizza picnic at McCarren Park thanks to Vinnie's. Pictured is the eggplant parm slice. While the breaded eggplant was great, it was a little dry sauce-wise. I do tend to like things extra-saucey, though! The cheese also seemed kind of dry, but maybe they just needed to use more of it? Oh well, I'll definitely be going back again just to be able to order from the cute boy at the counter.