Today it will be all about quince. I must say we were never friends, I knew it existed but never had any feelings about it. Then I once came across Nigella’s recipe for paradise chutney. It became a huge hit among family and friends, so I decided to explore the subject of the forgotten fruit even more. This “hardskin-not apple-not pear-what the check is it” fruit is inedible when raw, but just cook it for some time and you’ll be hooked. The there is the juice of raw quince that you mix with sugar and get vitamin C bomb infection fighting super liquid. And there is sweet quince liquor which is probably the best alcoholic drink for winter(after red wine of course- nothing beats red wine). But I’ll write about that in another post.
Let’s get poaching.
RECIPE – POACHED QUINCE
4 quince2 cups sugar
3 cups water
cinnamon
cloves
Dissolve sugar in water, add spices, quince and poach them until they become soft and reddish. Let them cool. You can use the syrup for your tea as well.
So since it’s November- the blanket/hot tea/comfort food month I thought I’d need some vanilla rice pudding. Nothing brings me more comfort in November than rice pudding or apple crumble and a yellow blanket around my feet.
RECIPE – VANILLA RICE PUDDING
1 cup arborio rice3 cups milk(I used rice/regular tastes better)
1/3 cup sugar
vanilla pod
3 egg yolks
0,5 cup full fat milk/or even double cream(if you feel decadent)
Rinse rice three times with cold water, put in a pan, cover with milk(without the last half cup), add vanilla and sugar, bring to boil and put on low heat to simmer for around 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the rice is soft. Mix yolks with milk/cream and add to rice, tun the heat off. Add quince and a bit of the syrup and enjoy!