Grape Pie

When I saw Girlichef's grape pie recipe, a lightbulb went off over my head. We've got a couple of grape vines in the garden, and this year quite a lot of bunches have ripened. They are quite small and not very sweet - not too good for eating out of hand but I knew they would be just the thing for making a grape pie!
The technique of squishing the seeds out of the skins and then combining the strained pulp back in with the skins was a new one to me. It was a bit sticky and very satisfying ina messy sort of way - and I thought that it would be just the task to set a child to, if you had one to hand.
I followed the quantities and method pretty closely. No really, I did. I used bought puff pastry instead of home made shortcrust because I had some and I was feeling lazy. I added an extra spoonful of flour because my filling was looking really wet and juicy. I added a few cloves to the pulp when it was heating, so they infused a bit of warm spice into the mixture. Instead of melting the butter for the filling separately I just added it cold, and counted on the heat of the pulp to melt it (which it did). And for the topping, I did a rubbed-in crumble topping and added some ground almonds to it, instead of the melted streusel topping with slivered almonds on top.

It was a revelation! We ate it just warm (and then cold for breakfast) and totally plain, without cream or icecream or anything and it was absolutely gorgeous. I have no idea why grape pie is not as famous as apple pie. Somehow the squeezed out skins plump up to juicy deliciousness and add just the slightest tanin bitterness to the sweet filling. And fortunately there are enough grapes on the vine for me to make another.