Familial Tastes + Preserving Quince

I inherited my love of quince from my mother who in turn inherited it from hers. My mom is from Germany, where quince are called Quitte and my Oma would cook compotes and more with them. The past number of years we've both been gifted quince from friends with trees of their own and have of course shared the bounty with each other. This year, while she's been recreating the quince dishes of her childhood — and making a phenomenal James Beard's Quince Tart! — mine were languishing in my fridge.

When I first took them out, they were so fragrant even through the plastic bag I worried they were overripe. Perhaps they were as some of the larger ones were getting a bit gritty, but the beauty of making preserves is some slightly imperfect fruit really doesn't matter.

Quince are similar to large apples, but can be much tougher to cut and core. Since these were well-ripened, I was pleased to find that cutting and coring was actually pretty painless. Some cooks also complain about peeling them, but I've found the perfect tool for that task is a serrated peeler.

I debated between making membrillo (quince paste), poached quince or quince preserves, but in remembering the look and flavor of my beautiful quince jam jars from last year (and in the interest of available time), I went with the latter.

Like apples and other fruits, quince turn brown once exposed to the air, so squeeze some lemon juice over them while you're prepping the fruit to prevent this.

Magically quince also change their complexion when you cook them with sugar. From their natural golden color, they become a gorgeous rosy hue that somehow perfectly matches their aroma. And the longer you cook them, the rosier they become.

  

Vanilla Quince Jam
Adapted from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Yields approximately 6 half pints

7 cups quince, peeled, cored and chopped
8 cups water
3 cups sugar
1 vanilla pod, split
Juice of 1 lemon, to prevent fruit from browning

Scrub the fuzz off the fruit under a cool, running tap. Dry the fruit and cut into quarters. Remove the core from each piece and then take the skin off each piece using a serrated peeler.

Chop into pieces and place in a large non-reactive pan, squeezing in the juice of one lemon. As you add chopped fruit from the additional quince, mix it around to coat with the acidic citrus juice.

Add water and sugar to the pot and bring to a full boil. Once sugar is dissolved, turn heat down to medium-high and stir frequently to keep from burning.

Once the fruit has begun to break down and turn somewhat translucent, smash the chunks down further using a potato masher.

Cook until your jam comes off a spoon in sheets, and ladle into hot, prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.

If you are not an experienced home canner, please consult the USDA guidelines or follow the detailed directions in a trusted source such as the above-cited cookbook.

Cooking The Breakfast Book, Chapter 8: Pink Grapefruit Apple Dish

In case you are just tuning in to this Cook the Book project, the first and third Tuesdays of the month deliver recipes from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book to your mornings — brought to you by myself and four blogger pals: Emily, Natasha, Rachel and Claudie. Chapter 8 is titled 'Fruit Fixing' and includes a range of fresh and cooked fruit preparations.

Marion's Pink Grapefruit Apple Dish appeals to me in all kinds of ways. I love the literalness of the name, I really love grapefruits, and I appreciate how these ingredients you might not normally expect to be together actually marry well for a fresh, bright and surprisingly tasty side dish.

  

Pink Grapefruit Apple Dish
Serves 2-4
Adapted from from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham  

3 pink grapefruits
2 sweet, firm apples
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
A sprinkle of sugar, as needed

Peel two of your grapefruits, removing as much white pith as possible. Then break into sections and remove the fruit from the membranes and skin. Put the grapefruit sections in a bowl. Slice your third grapefruit in half and squeeze the juice out it, straining out the bulk of the pulp if that is your preference.

Next peel and core the apples, slicing them into thin slices. 

Immediately add the apple to the grapefruit, gently stirring to coat them with the acidic grapefruit juice to keep them from browning.

Chill the fruit and top with a tablespoon or more of chopped fresh mint. If your grapefruits are not sweet enough, sprinkle a small amount of sugar over the top and serve in fancy dishes.

Cooking notes: I modified the quantities of the original recipe as I found that just one grapefruit and one apple were enough for single servings for two people. The use of an additional grapefruit just for juice was needed though, and the mint is really the secret weapon here, so I increased the amount. Also, since my grapefruits were actually quite tart, I sprinkled just a tiny bit of sugar over each dish before serving.

Dehydrating Fruit - Cook It! September Resolution: Raisins

Grapes = Raisins. So simple. And so much more lip-smacking when you make them yourself. That's what I did for the Grow It Cook It Can It September Cook It! 2012 dehydrate fruit resolution.

I started with a bunch of small organic green grapes; seedless, and very flavorful. Gave 'em a rinse and pulled out all the stems. Though now I know why you sometimes get little stem bits in your raisins — those suckers can be tough to remove! Popped the grapes into the dehydrator at 135 degrees, and went to sleep.

After 12 hours, to my delight they were starting to look like raisins!

And after a little more than 26 hours, my grapes had been truly raisin-ified.

Since grapes are pretty much pure water, it can take some time to dehydrate them. Count on anywhere from 24-48 hours depending on the size of the grapes you are using.

These raisins really do pack so much more punch in terms of their pure, grape-y flavor, I have found myself mostly just eating them as a snack. This is one of the best dehydrating projects I've done so far, and the payoff was great.

Fig Jam Four Ways + Chipotle Fig Jam Recipe

Well really, if you count all the ones I ate fresh it would be figs five or six ways at least, but we'll stick to the preserving front which ranges from sweet to savory spice as well as boozy.

Once again, a friend's generosity fueled my creativity in the kitchen. Walnut Creek has got the heat, and my friend Michaela invited me over to pick from her two huge fig trees on a warm day indeed. After all that hard work, her button-cute daughter Stella was nice enough to hose down my feet. That felt nice!

While I ogled and munched figs back in my kitchen, I already had a few recipes and flavor combos in mind. First up, to make some balsamic fig jam. I have been addicted to LuLu's fig balsamic vinegar for years, and it's an indisputable swoon-worthy flavor combination. Second, I wanted to use the fennel pollen I had scored at the very first food swap. Fennel and figs go together like birthdays and cake, and that's a fact. Third, was to preserve some in brandy — these Sicilian Preserved Figs were a hit with friends.

As I cooked down all these dazzling concoctions, I knew just what to do with the remaining fruit: add some smoky, spicy, heat.

I always have a can or two of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce on the pantry shelves or in the fridge. I use them in eggs, chilequiles, soups and chili, and even put a bit of the sauce in salad dressing for roasted vegetable salads. I am happy to report the jam outcome was as expected: sensational. The earthy smoky spice of the chiles paired with the concentrated sweetness of the figs makes them soar.

Chipotle Fig Jam
Yields 4 half pints

2 lbs figs, chopped
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
4 tablespoons lemon juice, plus a few lemon slices if desired
1-1½ canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped — to taste, depending on your desired spice level

Chop your figs according to how chunky you want your jam, and place in a large non-reactive pot. Cover with sugar and let macerate for 30 minutes to an hour.

Add water, lemon juice, and lemon slices if using, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer and stir regularly to prevent scorching.

After an hour, if needed, use a potato masher to break up the figs. Stir in the chopped chipotle chile in adobo sauce.

Cook another 15-20 minutes, or until the jam has reached a consistency you like.

Ladle into hot jars, and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Confession time: The harvest and output described here was actually from last year. In fact, I've already gone and picked the first round of this year's crop which has resulted in four new types of figgy goodness, including a different fennel flavor, plus herbal and citrus mixes. I promise to highlight some of them here before this time next year...

Cooking The Breakfast Book, Chapter 5: Fruit Fritters with Meyer Lemon Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Another cooking first under my belt thanks to my collaborative cooking projects: deep frying. Chapter 5 of my Cook the Book adventure was filled with all kinds of temptations, in the form of Doughnuts & Fritters. The Fruit Fritters recipe below caught my eye immediately, and in retrospect I think in my mind I was envisioning something more like an apple fritter. These fritters though, are superbly simple — just fresh fruit, battered and fried. Marion suggests powdering them with sugar, which I did because it looks nice, as well as serving them with a little bit of maple syrup. I actually found them demanding something a little lighter and different, thus the Meyer lemon dipping sauce addition. For all you other first-time-fryers out there, my message is straightforward: don't be afraid.

Fruit Fritters with Meyer Lemon Yogurt Dipping Sauce
Serves 6-8
Adapted from from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham

1 egg, separated
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup flat beer*
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Any combination of the following fruits (or try something not listed here): apples, ripe and firm, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch slices; bananas, ripe and firm, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch slices; apricots or peaches, ripe and rather firm, peeled and pitted, cut into 1/2-inch slices; pineapple, rind removed, cut into 1/2-inch slices, 2 inches long
Lemon juice or sugar
Vegetable oil for frying

For sauce (my addition):
Plain yogurt
Meyer lemon zest

Blend the egg yolk, oil and beer in a blender, food processor, or bowl until thoroughly combined. Add the flour and salt and beat until smooth. Cover the container with plastic wrap and let rest for at least 1 hour.

Prepare the fruit according to above and taste. If anything lacks sweetness or tartness, sprinkle with sugar or lemon. (This step can also easily be skipped.)

Beat the egg white until it is stiff but moist, and fold it into the fritter batter once done resting.

Preheat oven to 250°. Heat approximately 1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil in a skillet to 370°. Gently pat each piece of fruit dry with a paper towel, and then dip in the batter until coated completely. Place a test piece in the hot oil. If the batter becomes dark brown within a few seconds, remove from heat and turn it down a little. Cook pieces about 20 seconds on each side, turning with a slotted spoon, and removing when golden.

Pat fritters dry of oil on paper towels and dust with confectioners' sugar. You can keep them warm in the oven as you fry the rest to serve. 

Don't worry if it takes a couple fritters to get the hang of it.

Mix plain yogurt with Meyer lemon zest to taste and serve as a dipping sauce to provide a nice flavor and texture contrast to the fritters.

* Cooking notes: This recipe requires flat beer, so you will want to open a can or bottle and leave it out, covered, overnight or for at least a few hours.

I found the fritters by themselves to be pretty rich and not something I would typically eat for breakfast. The addition of the citrusy yogurt sauce brightened the dish up considerably for me though.

Like most fried things, these are better when eaten immediately. I found the fritters that had rested in the oven had already become a wee bit soggy and felt more oily than those eaten right away. I would suggest serving these for an informal brunch where folks don't mind eating small batches fresh out of the frying pan.

In terms of the fruit mix, I went with peaches, pineapple and bananas. The boyfriend liked the peaches best and I think I leaned towards the pineapple. The bananas to me seemed like they should be served over vanilla ice cream as a dessert. Which they could be of course.

Although this was a lot easier than I anticipated, really I think I would have a bigger sense of deep frying accomplishment had I picked one of the doughnut recipes (like jelly doughnuts). Luckily, I have five cooking compatriots who have also been cooking from the same chapter. Be sure to go virtually savor their dishes too!

• Rachel from Ode to Goodness
• Natasha from Non-Reactive Pan
• Emily from The Bon Appétit Diaries
• Claudie from The Bohemian Kitchen
• Sammy from Rêve du Jour