Quince tartlets with membrillo
I've often read that quinces will fill a room with their fragrance, but mine have never seemed to give off much of an aroma until they were cooked - until this year, that is, when they seem to be making up for lost time. A trug full of them on the kitchen table at the moment is not only filling the room but the whole house with their wonderful apple-vanilla scent. It fades in the evening, but during the day it's amazing. Talking to other gardeners, it seems it's not just me whose quince tree has had a good harvest this autumn, and judging by the huge number of views I had for last week's quince recipe, it sounds as though there are a lot of people looking for ways to use them! So I'm happy to oblige with another couple of recipes this week... Stand by for one of my longest blog posts so far, as there's a lot to get in!
If you don't happen to have a stash of quinces, the tartlets work well with dessert apples or plums too - if you use apples or plums, there's no need to poach them first.
I started by making membrillo (the delicious quince paste that's usually served with cheese). Then once the membrillo was made, I used some of it as a jammy layer in the base of the tartlets (a bit like using jam in a Bakewell tart) - but you could use any flavour of jam for the recipe, if you prefer. Or, of course, you could buy membrillo - it's often sold in little pots alongside the cheese in larger supermarkets.
Membrillo
1.5kg quinces
2 strips lemon rind
juice of half a lemon
granulated sugar
Get rid of any fluff from the quinces by running them under the tap, then slice them up (don't worry about coring them as you'll be sieving the fruit later). Put in a large pan with just enough water to cover them, and the lemon rind and juice. Bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer, covered, until the fruit is soft - about 15-20 mins. At this point, the fruit will be pale yellow so it's hard to imagine it will end up the rich red colour of membrillo - but it will!
Push the fruit through a sieve with the back of a wooden spoon (or, better still, put it through a mouli food mill if you have one). Spoon the fruit into a jug so you can measure it, then put it back in the pan with 400g sugar for every 500ml fruit.
Slowly bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. And now for the slow bit - it needs to simmer for two or three hours until it gets to the point when you can draw a spoon along the base of the pan and it just leaves a clear channel for a few seconds. Stir it regularly during this time so it doesn't burn at the bottom of the pan.
Tip it into a shallow tin lined with baking parchment paper and leave for 24 hours in a cool but not cold place (ie, not the fridge). Cut into squares and then store in the fridge in an airtight tin - it will keep for months.
COOKS' PLOT TIP: My neighbour, Marylin, has recently stirred some of my membrillo into gravy to serve with roast pork and says it was really good, so I will be trying that myself tonight!
COOKS' PLOT TIP 2: To make a loose-set Quince Jam, after about an hour of cooking remove from the heat and spoon into sterilised jars. Keep in the fridge rather then in a cupboard, as this soft-set jam won't store as well as normal jam - but it tastes so good, it probably won't be hanging around for long anyway!
Quince tartlets with membrillo
4 medium-size quinces
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp caster sugar
Shortcrust pastry (to make it, see my previous post:
https://a-cooks-plot.blogspot.
2 squares of membrillo
125g butter, at room temperature
125g caster sugar
3 eggs
125g ground almonds
25g flaked almonds
Honey for drizzling, optional
First, de-fluff, peel and slice the quinces, removing the core as you go. Poach in just enough water to cover, with lemon juice and a tsp of sugar, for about 10 minutes until they are just tender. Drain and leave to cool (save the liquid to serve as a pouring sauce).
Next, make a frangipane filling: Cream the butter and sugar together (by hand or in a food mixer), slowly beat in the eggs and then stir in the almonds.
Roll out the pastry and line 6-8 tartlet tins (I used Yorkshire pudding tins with individual indents, to give me 6 oversized tartlets). Spread the membrillo over the base of each pastry case, then spoon in the frangipane and top with the quince slices. Sprinkle over the flaked almonds.
Bake at 180C (fan oven) for 35-40 mins until the top is set and lightly browned. You can drizzle them with honey at this stage to make them nice and shiny (although they are quite sweet already so only do this if you have a sweet tooth!) Serve warm or cold (with the reserved liquid to pour over if you're having it as a pud rather than with a cup of tea).
Makes 6-8 large-ish tartlets
COOKS' PLOT TIP: The pastry and the frangipane can be both be made a day ahead and kept in the fridge. Both freeze well too, so you can get well ahead with this if you want to and then just assemble and bake the tartlets on the day you want to eat it.
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