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.

Cooking The Breakfast Book, Chapter 7: Buttermilk Baked Eggs

I adore eggs. I like them all ways, any time. Especially soft boiled, or poached, or in what I call "egg things" and most others call egg-in-a-hole. I also recently started a new job and have been trying to eat breakfast before I leave the house in the morning, which is far from easy for this night owl. But, this is my kind of recipe, and it makes breakfast extra easy. I made these Buttermilk Baked Eggs yesterday before work even.

The things I like best about this dish are the following: (a) it's an effortless way to fancy up a favorite dish, (b) it's an ideal use for that leftover buttermilk you inevitably end up with from some baking project or another, (c) aside from super simple prep, it's mostly cooking time, so this is a breakfast that you can make quickly and while doing other things, and (d) the buttermilk makes this humble dish surprisingly luscious and creamy. Thumbs up for eggs transformed.

Buttermilk Baked Eggs
Serves 2
Adapted from from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham  

2 slices sandwich bread
2 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly toast the bread slices, and cut a hole in the center of each one using a 1½-inch circular cutter (or a small glass). Butter the bottom of an ovenproof dish and place the toast in it. 

Break the egg directly over the center, so that the yolk fills the hole. Add salt and pepper to taste, and then spoon 1/4 cup of buttermilk over each egg and bread slice.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Clamoring for more eggs? Of course you are! Find them among our society of Cook the Bookers: 

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

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...

Swapper Profile: Martine Holston + Caprese Jam Recipe

I am delighted to introduce Martine Holston in our next swapper profile! Call it kismet — or maybe just the fact that SF is a small town, and the home canning/food community even smaller — but I first met Martine at Omnivore Books while waiting to get our cookbooks signed by Marisa of Food in Jars. As we stood next to each other in line and chatted for a bit, food swapping never came up...but then she walked in the door of the August food swap, and we immediately recognized each other. Though all her jams looked and tasted like summer in a jar, we didn't trade because honestly between what I make myself and what I have traded for at past swaps, our pantry and fridge are already overflowing with jam, but I am so happy that a fleeting meeting turned into a deeper connection, and I hope she becomes a regular at the swap. Read on to find out about her "voodles" and for her fabulous twist on tomato jam.

Name: Martine Holston

Home (+ hometown swap): San Francisco

Profession: International Public Health

How did you first get involved in food swapping? How long ago? I googled it! I ran across an article about food swapping, and knew there had to be one in San Francisco. My first swap was in August.

What did you make for the last food swap and what inspired your choice? I brought a sample of different jams that I made in August — Nectarine Plum Ginger, Peach Vanilla, Peach Spice, and Pineapple. The peaches and nectarines were a gift from a friend who had 24 boxes of ripe, heirloom, organic fruit. Her company subsidizes a farm with heirloom peaches and nectarines to preserve the orchard — the farm can't sell the fruit because it ripens too fast and was going to let the orchard die. The company's employees have to harvest the fruit as part of the deal (tough life). After freezing, jamming, canning and baking dozens of pounds of fruit, my friend still had excess and needed to give some away. She gave me a box each of nectarines and peaches, and these jams were the result. I didn't trade the nectarine cilantro salsa, because it was too amazing — sorry folks.

What’s your favorite thing about swapping? Getting rid of my surplus jam! Also, seeing other people's creativity and getting inspiration.

Who or what most influences your cooking? Making things healthy and veganizing them. While I'm only "veganish" (my French blood does not allow me to give up cheese), I like the challenge of making things vegan and gluten free so everyone can enjoy them and feel good about what they eat.

What’s your favorite kitchen tool?  Cooking would not be as fun or exciting without my food processor - life would be bland (no pun intended) without flaky pie crusts, hummus, pesto, and carrot miso salad dressing. My newest kitchen toy is a julienne peeler for making "voodles" — noodles out of vegetables.  (There's a post on my blog about it if you're curious)

Your current flavor or ingredient obsession?  Heirloom tomatoes - they're just SO good. I just made a boozy heirloom tomato sauce on top of a polenta pizza crust.... mmmmmm.....

Biggest food surprise? My Caprese Jam. It was the first time I ever tried tomato jam, and I was not expecting how good it is — or the complex flavor is from few ingredients.

If the Rapture came tomorrow, what would your last meal on earth be? Depends on if I'm going to be "raptured" or not. If I think I'm going to heaven, then I would have a decadent meal at Millennium — and probably get two desserts (I won't be alive the next day to deal with the tummy ache). If I think I may be stuck on earth with fire and the wrath of God to contend with, I'd carbo-load with pasta tossed with brie cheese and cherry tomatoes to survive the apocalypse.  

When I'm not in the kitchen I'm... yoga-ing, running, blogging (and I guess working).

Favorite local food experience: Food trucks (even though the veggie options are limited, I like the experience); any Farmer's Market, and the bulk bins at Rainbow Grocery.

Recipe by Martine: 

Caprese Jam

Yield: 2 half pints 

For the story of how this jam came to be, read this post.  

A complex jam compared to its relatively few ingredients. Like sweet caramelized sun dried tomatoes with a hint of spice and grassy basil. Serve with any number of cheeses (cheddar, goat, brie) or on a sandwich (roasted veggie, or grilled cheese). I even think it would be good on vanilla ice cream, or on a sweet cornbread. This recipe yields a little more than 2 half pints. Enjoy the leftovers and can the two full jars.

4 cups chopped tomato (skin and seeds in tact)
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoon bottled lemon juice
1.5 tablespoon chopped basil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
A few grinds of black pepper

Prepare jars for water bath canning.

Combine all ingredients except the basil into a large, non-reactive pot.  Bring to a boil, and then let simmer stirring occasionally at first (and then more frequently as it cooks) for 20 to 30 minutes. The jam will turn a dark maroon hue and the liquid will begin to thicken when the jam is ready. Turn off the heat and stir in the basil.

Ladle into hot, prepared jars, and process for 10 minutes.