It has been a while. I guess, all I can say is, life happened. We have been in Seattle for almost two years and being workaholics, we have buried ourselves in our jobs. With the fall months rolling in, I got reminded of how much I miss cooking and sharing recipes on this blog, both for myself and for everyone who has been following. So I am back and this time, I plan to stick around.  

I know many of you (including me!) don’t like to scrolling ten minutes through a giant blog post to finally reach to the recipe but this is a blog and I have been gone for a long time so some updates are in order.

This year, we traveled to South Korea where we ate so much and everything (would anyone like posts on our trips with a focus on food?) and to Isle of Skye that took our breath away with its amazing scenery. I started lifting weights again with amazing Brent Hruska of Barbell Vitality and not only I can now deadlift 170lbs but I also lost 18lbs along the way! Goodbye FL pounds I gained in the year we lived there. We have been to many national parks and had a great camping trip in Crater Lake Natinoal Park with a close group of friends. I am not an outdoorsy person but I discovered a love of cooking on open fire and will be sharing recipes for camping in the future for sure. I have been on a ton of trips for work, to DC, San Francisco, Orlando and more San Francisco, which allowed me to see family and friends while also working hard. And Cesar got a new job and he is loving it! There is more to come this year with my parents visiting for the holidays and more travels but I’ll save those for later.

Fall came to Seattle very early this year, I for one, wasn’t ready for it. But then when I saw all the amazing fall bounty at the University Farmers Market I got in the mood for cooking again. If you are still stuck in the summer months, this is the perfect dessert that will get you in the mood for fall, especially if you are not ready for the pies and not into all the pumpkin spice craziness.

Quince is a fruit that comes from the same family as apples and pears. But unlike apples and pears, most types of quince are not edible raw. They are too sour, hard and astringent to be tasty unless cooked. In Turkey (which has the highest production of quince to my knowledge), we make jams, pastes and desserts with quince. This recipe is a classic and a family favorite. It is light and not too sweet, plus, it looks quite elegant so you can knock everyone’s socks off if you make some for your various Thanksgiving festivities.

Yields: 8 servings Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

4 quinces

Half a lemon’s juice

12 tablespoons of granulated sugar (3 tbsp per quince)

1 cinnamon stick

3-4 cloves (or 1 teaspoon ground cloves)

For serving:

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Crème fraîche (or clotted cream)

Preparation

1. Fill a large bowl with cold water and squeeze half a lemon’s juice. Quince turns brown very rapidly once cut and peeled. To avoid this, you will be placing the cleaned quinces inside the water. 

Do steps 2-4 one by one for each quince to avoid browning.

2. First cut the quince in half along its width. If done correctly you should see the seeds in the center, forming a flower-like shape. Cutting them this way makes cleaning process much easier.

3. Using a spoon and/or paring knife, carve out all the seeds. DO NOT discard the seeds. We will use them later. Set them aside.

4. Peel the quince and place into the bowl filled with cold water.

5. Once all the quinces are cleaned, place all the halves into a sauté pan with the carved center facing the top. If they are not standing flat, you can cut a bit to flatten its bottom.

6. Cover each quince with 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar.

7. Add in the cinnamon and cloves.

8. Sprinkle all the quince seeds that you set aside onto the quinces. The seeds help give the quince a deep orange/red color once cooked.

9. Start cooking on low heat. Cook for 30-35 minutes. The sugar and the water are going to turn into a syrupy consistency. You can stop cooking when there is some syrup left in the bottom of the pan. The quinces should get softer and turn a deeper orange in color.

10. Using a spoon, transfer the quinces to a serving platter. Drizzle them with the syrup in the pan. Place chopped walnuts into the carved center of each quince. When serving, place a dollop of crème fraîche onto each piece.

Enjoy!