Quince Essentials

 

Quince trees abound in my part of France- and a windy October day brought the ripe yellow fruit tumbling down.

I was lucky enough to be given a big bag full from my generous neighbour- but if you can't find them where you are then most of the recipes in this month's blog work well with pears, apples or plums.

Now, lovely though they are, the heady perfumed skin is not to everyone's taste ( or more particularly their sense of smell) so it was a good idea to use these up quickly as the scent can quickly overpower a room.

My neighbour recommended eating them just simply baked in the oven so I tried this first.

Wash the fruit well, cut in half and scoop out the black seeds with a sharp knife:

Prepare your fruit

Place in a baking tray with a filling of your choice- I used sultanas and golden syrup but you could use anything you like ( for example sherry or port, butter and brown sugar as illustrated by my friend Michelle's Pommes au Porto)

My version with syrup and sultanas

Michelle's apple version with port, butter and sugar

Bake in a moderate oven for 35-45 minutes until tender, then serve with cream or mascapone.

Baked stuffed quince

You can also bake them into a Tarte Tatin- simmer the peeled quince for 15 minutes or so to soften them ( they will turn a slightly pink colour) and then make some caramel by melting 2-3 tablespoons of sugar in a frying pan, placing the quince into the hot liquid caramel and then topping with a circle of puff pastry. Bake at 185 degrees for about 25-30 minutes until the pastry is risen and golden, then whip it out of the oven ( wearing your thickest oven gloves) and invert it onto a plate.

Quince Tatin

Or try a Crumble. Blitz together 125g plain flour, 50g sugar, 70g butter and a sachet of vanilla sugar. 

Blitz up your crumble topping

Simmer your peeled and prepared quince for 10-15 minutes or so to soften them, mix with other fruit if you want ( I used blackberries ) and top with the crumble. Bake at 170 degrees until bubbling and golden. Serve with ice cream.

Quince and Blackberry Crumble

I also used up a leftover buttery croissant to make a Quince Bread and Butter Pudding. 

Prepare the quince as for a crumble ( above ) but top with a sliced croissant. Make a custard from 1 egg, 150 ml milk and 2 tsps vanilla essence.

Pour over the croissant and quince and leave for half an hour or so to soak in.

Sprinkle on a sachet of vanilla sugar.

Leave the fruit, sugar and croissant to soak in the custard

Bake at 150 degrees until the custard is set and firm.

Quince Bread and Butter Pudding

And finally, I made Quince Membrillo ( paste or jelly served with cheese in Spain for tapas)

Apparently this recipe works equally well with plums, if you haven't got quince.

For 1 kg of quince, you will need the juice of 2 lemons and 400g of preserving sugar.

Place the chopped quince in a heavy bottomed saucepan with a little water. Simmer for 30-40 minutes until the fruit is very tender, then add the lemon juice and sugar. Cook, stirring all the time until the sugar is dissolved.

Then either sieve or blitz the fruit to make a purée.

Cook the purée down for another twenty minutes, until it is reduced by about a third. Keep stirring as it becomes very thick and can catch.

Then you can either pot it up in sterilized jars (as I did) or pour into a baking tray lined with silicone paper and leave to cool before slicing to serve with cheese.

And there I will stop. I hope this inspires you to dine on quince ( with or without mince)!

 

And not a runcible spoon in sight!