Recipe : Membrillo

Quinces are still available at the local farmers' markets and a great way to eat them is as membrillo.

Although I'd never tasted it before, pictures of this reddish jelly-like paste drew me in. It just looks so exotic and exciting! (Okay, maybe I don't get out enough.)

At any rate, the recipe for membrillo couldn't be any easier and, when its sweetness is combined with the saltiness of prosciutto and manchego, the results of that recipe couldn't be tastier.



Membrillo

1 kg quince
water

600 g sugar
1 T. balsamic vinegar

Peel, core, dice the quince, and place all the pieces in a medium-sized pot. Cover the fruit with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue to simmer the quince until very soft, about 30 minutes.

Drain the quince and puree it in a blender or food processor (please remember to be careful when pureeing the hot fruit!).

Weigh the fruit puree and then return it to the pot. Add an equal weight of sugar and cook over low heat until a thick paste is formed, anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes. Stir in balsamic vinegar. (The longer you cook it, the redder it gets. The batch I made was cooked for about an hour and is only reddish brown.)

Pour the paste into a greased mould (I used an 8 x 8 baking dish) and let it cure overnight.

Wrap in plastic wrap or foil and then store the membrillo in the fridge.

Recipe: Quince and Apple Crisp

It can be hard to get into the Thanksgiving mood when all your friends and neighbours are still a month and a half away from thinking about it. So, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving every year but, this year, I felt like it.

A dinner of roast chicken, sausage stuffing, Brussels sprouts, and caramelised onion mashed potatoes was followed by a quince and apple crisp.



The Rome apples are from Patrick's Garden, a local organic farmer who sells at the Sunrise farmer's market. I also picked up two quinces at the market to include in the dessert.

Quince and Apple Crisp

3 cups water
1.5 cups sugar
2 quinces, cored, peeled, and cut into eighths
3 apples, cored, peeled, and cut into quarters (I used Rome apples)

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat water and sugar over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Continue to heat until the syrup sends up little bubbles; you don't want to boil it but it needs to be hot enough to poach the quince.

Add the quince sections to the syrup and reduce the heat to a good simmer. Cook for 15 minutes until the quince are soft. Remove fruit from the syrup and set aside. Reserve the syrup for another use (may I recommend using it to sweeten your tea?).

Combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and oatmeal in a medium bowl. Cut in butter.

Butter a 1.5 liter baking dish. Combine the quince and apple and put both into the buttered dish. Top with oatmeal mixture and bake for 55 minutes.

Serve with cream or ice cream.