QUINCE - SLOW COOKED, ROASTED, PASTE, A TART, A CROSTATA

 QUINCES – SLOW COOKED, ROASTED, PASTE…A TART, and A CROSTATA

Quinces are the ultimate Winter fruit – always eaten cooked though do put a large bowl of fresh whole raw quinces in your kitchen or entrance way for the most divine aroma. Quinces are too acidic to be eaten raw and they take a long time to cook - but they are glorious and rich and develop a magnificent musky flavour and a wonderful deep ruby red.

with thanks to Stephanie Alexander and the iconic Woman’s Weekly for inspiration

SLOW COOKED QUINCE

This recipe is perfect as the base quince recipe for many many dishes, including the crostata. Reserve the beautiful syrup always.

4 quinces (about 1.4kg)

1 cup caster sugar

4 Tbs honey

1 vanilla bean, halved, scraped

2 cinnamon stick

6 cups water

Peel the quinces, cut into eighths and remove the cores.

Place the sugar, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and water into a large saucepan and stir over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Add the quince and bring to a simmer. Cover the quinces with a piece of baking paper cut to fit the size of the pan. Simmer, covered, over a low heat for around 3½ hours or until the fruit is soft and a deep ruby red.

Remove the quinces from the syrup and return the syrup to a simmer. Cook till it is a nice sticky consistency but still pourable.

STEPHANIE’S QUINCES COOKED IN HONEY

A great no-fuss way to cook quinces. We love them like this, cooked with the skins on, so easy – and perfect served warm with rice pudding, thick cream or custard – or even in a lamb tagine.

3 quinces, washed well

80 g butter

⅓ cup light honey

¼ cup water

Preheat oven to 150°C.

Halve but do not peel quinces, then remove pips and core from each with a spoon to make a neat hollow.

Select a baking dish that will hold the quince halves snugly and grease with 1/3 of the butter.

Arrange quince halves with the hollows facing up, divide honey and remaining butter between hollows and pour water gently around sides. Cover with foil and bake for at least 3 hours until quinces are soft and a deep ruby red.

Serve hot or warm with hollows filled with honey juices and offer thick or clotted cream.

QUINCE TART TATIN

We use the beautiful Careme puff pastry for this dish, found in our freezer at Bay Grocer. Serve it with vanilla ice cream, a beautiful thickened cream or creme fraiche or custard.

Serves 6

4 cooked medium quinces (see recipe above for ‘slow cooked quince’)

¾ cup quince syrup

2 Tbs butter

Careme puff pastry sheet

Preheat your oven to 200°C 

Line the base of a deep 22cm round cake pan with baking paper or your favourite shallow dish – we like to use a 26cm Le Creuset shallow casserole dish. Cast iron skillets also work really well.

Bring the quince syrup to the boil, remove from the heat and stir through the butter.

Place the quince pieces into the dish, round sides down and pour the syrup over.

Roll the sheet of pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper until large enough to line the base of the dish then gently lift it on top of the quinces and tuck in the sides.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Cool the tart in the pan for 5 minutes before tuning it out onto a serving plate.

QUINCE CROSTATA

A classic Italian tart with a wonderfully jammy filling. Serve it with your favourite ice cream or cream. We use Careme sour short crust cream pastry for this one.

Serves 6

4 cooked medium quinces (see recipe above for ‘slow cooked quince’)

Careme sour cream short crust pastry sheet

1 egg, beaten

3 Tbs brown or demerara sugar

Warm quince syrup, to serve

Preheat oven to 160°C

Roll pastry between two sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Remove top sheet of baking paper and transfer the pastry to a flat baking tray. Place quince pieces into the centre of the pastry, leaving a 6cm border. Fold over edges, slightly overlapping and brush top with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with sugar.

Cook for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

QUINCE PASTE

This classic sweet quince paste is a great accompaniment to a big hearty cheese.

Serves 10

2kg quinces

Water

1.25 kg caster sugar (or less/more as necessary)

Peel, quarter and core the quinces, reserving the peel and cores.

Chop the quince flesh coarsely and place in a large saucepan. Tie the peel and cores in a small piece of muslin to form a bag. Add to the quinces in the pan. These act as a bit of a setting agent.

Add enough water to cover the quinces and boil, covered for 30 minutes or until fruit is very soft. Remove muslin bag and push flesh through a fine sieve into a bowl.

Weigh the fruit pulp. You should have about 1.25kg of pulp. Weigh out an equal amount of sugar.

Combine sugar and fruit pulp in the same cleaned saucepan. Cook, stirring over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Continue to cook, stirring every 5-10 minutes, until the quince paste is very thick and a deep ruby colour. At this stage a wooden spoon drawn through the paste will leave a very distinct trail across the bottom of the pan. This will take approximately 1 1/2 hours.

Transfer cooked paste to a lightly greased and lined 20cm x 30cm lamington pan. Spread paste flat.

Place in fan-forced oven with only the fan working (no temperature set) overnight or for several hours to dry out. Alternatively you can dry the paste in a very low oven (90°C) for several hours

When dry, wrap it in baking paper and foil and place in an airtight container.