Country Quincefest

April 21-22, 2012

While I'm non envious of her commute, it's non hard to endure out why my friend J moved out to the country - she has a lovely domicile together with an fifty-fifty lovelier garden. Her quince tree's been bearing (some) fruit together with she invited a few of us over for a weekend of preparing, eating together with celebrating them. Many quince recipes postulate involve gentle cooking over the class of hours, together with thus nosotros lolled contently inwards her kitchen expanse for most of our visit, ascent occasionally to banking concern jibe the oven or stove, chop or shaver a piffling something.

 

The quince eating began amongst quince glue cooked final yr teamed amongst cheese together with crackers.

My major contribution was this Ottolenghi salad featuring poached quinces - I'll postal service to a greater extent than almost it tomorrow.

We used the leftover poaching liquid every bit a syrup for a piffling haloumi. 'Twas a terrific combination of sweet, sour together with salty.

For a vegetarian primary J dug upwards a tagine recipe amongst eggplant, chickpeas together with quinces. Here the quinces weren't sweetened together with they lent a pleasing hint of sourness.

We finished upwards amongst a baking triumph from GG. Cooked upside down, it used leftover poached quince from final year's harvest together with paired it amongst a lemon zest-spiked, super-tender butter cake from Annie's Garden to Table.

... Except that nosotros weren't quite finished! Amongst it all we'd poached 3 to a greater extent than small-scale quinces inwards anticipation of breakfast. I intend these were the most complex together with interesting quinces of all. Their poaching liquid simmered downward to a sugariness jelly glaze, together with within the coloring shifted from crimson through a sunset of orange, sugariness together with velvety through to tangy together with pear-gritty. We ate them amongst French toast.

While J's quince harvest was far smaller than final year's nosotros actually made the most of it. If you lot tin rails about of these fruits downward I'd highly recommend a meditative or social afternoon inwards your kitchen, simmering together with stirring something sweet, sour together with special.