After getting excited about quince and buying one, I had to figure out what to do with it. Flipping through Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, a chutney recipe jumped out at me, and I made it with some modifications. The cooked fruit has a pleasing translucent stained glass quality, and tasted wonderful with my pancakes this morning; the friends we visited this afternoon for Kaffee und Kuchen (actually waffles and tea) were very excited about the small jar we gave them.
Pear, quince and apple chutney
- 1 large quince
- 3 apples (I'm very into Elstars at the moment)
- 2 pears (I used one Green Anjou and one Red Bartlett)
- 1 C honey (I tried acacia, but I imagine any fragrant liquid light one would do)
- 1/2 C apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 C balsamic vinegar (I used white, but would try red next time to accentuate the pinkish undertones)
- 1/8 C dry white wine (eg Riesling)
- 3 small cinnamon sticks (about 1 inch each)
- 12 cloves
- 12 peppercorns
- 3 small dried red chilis
Core the fruit and cut into small chunks; keep fruits separate. Combine the honey, vinegars, wine, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 cloves, 3 peppercorns and 1 chili in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat to a boil. Simmer each fruit turn by turn with a third of the aromatics (cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, chili), then remove to a large bowl with a slotted spoon. (I cooked the quince for 20 minutes, the apple and pear for ten.) Spoon the fruit into a medium-sized jar and add the remaining syrup. Madison says it will keep for several months in the refrigerator.
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