Grape Tart

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Concord grapes make a distinctive tart, but any good, juicy grape can be substituted. We tested this with blue-black coronation grapes. Squeezing seeds out can be tedious, but it makes a great filling. (Seedless grapes were deadly dull.)

We found that the minute tapioca did not completely dissolve on top of the tart. If you don't want to see the tapioca you can substitute the minute tapioca with tapioca flour if available or pulse it in a food processor to grind it up slightly.

Ingredients

Pastry:

  • 1½ cups flour

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • ½ cup butter

  • 3 tablespoons cold water

  • 1½ teaspoons vinegar

Grape Filling:

  • 2 pounds grapes (about 6 cups)

  • 3 tablespoons minute tapioca

  • 1 teaspoon grated orange rind

  • ½ cup granulated sugar

  • 3 tablespoons grape or red currant jelly, melted

Method

Add flour, salt and butter to a food processor. Pulse together until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add water and vinegar and pulse briefly, but do not allow dough to form into a ball. Transfer to a bowl and knead together by hand. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Roll out half of pastry to a 12-inch circle to fit a 9-inch loose bottom fluted tart pan or pie plate. Reserve dough trimmings to make a decorative leaf for top of tart. Prick bottom with a fork, line with tin foil and pie weights and bake for 15 minutes or until pastry is opaque. Remove weights and bake 5 minutes longer.

To remove seeds from grapes, squeeze individual grapes, reserving skins and pulp separately. Press pulp through a sieve to remove seeds. Combine sieved pulp with grape skins, add tapioca, orange rind and sugar and let stand for 15 minutes.

Pour filling into pie shell.

Roll out extra pastry dough to make a grape motif or other decoration for top of tart. Place motif on a baking sheet and bake beside the pie for 25 minutes or until golden.

Place pie on lower third of oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until grape juice is bubbling. The filling will firm up as it cools. Brush tart with melted grape jelly and place motif on top. Cool. Serves 6 to 8.