Claudia Roden’s Quince Purée
This sweet paste is especially good paired with Parmesan or blue cheese. Serve it as part of a cheese platter, or make as an edible gift this Christmas.
From the book
Med: A Cookbook
Traverse the varied cuisines of the Mediterranean with the inimitable Claudia Roden
From Provence to Morocco, there are over 300 pages of stories, recipes and places to explore
Select flavourful dishes for your next dinner party, or night in with friends and family
Introduction
You can usually find quinces in Middle Eastern and Asian shops in the winter months. I keep them in the kitchen for days for their heavenly scent, and when I cook them the fragrance fills the house. Eating them like this, simply mashed with a little sugar, is pure joy. I serve the purée with the cream below, or with cheese – it is good with Pecorino sardo, Parmesan or Grana Padano, and with blue cheese or goats’ cheese.
Ingredients
| 3 | quinces (about 1.2kg total weight) |
| 100g | caster sugar |
Method
Wash the quinces, scrubbing them if they have down on their skins. Put them on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake them for about 2 hours (the time depends on the size and ripeness of the fruit) or until they are soft enough that you can easily pierce through to the centre with a pointed knife. Leave them to cool.
Peel them, cut them in half and cut out the cores. It is messy but worth it. Put the flesh in a pan and cut it into pieces. Add the sugar and mash with a potato masher. Cook over low heat, stirring for about 5 minutes. Pour the purée into a serving dish and leave to cool, then cover and chill in the fridge.
