Quince.

How To Cook Quince — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn | The Kitchn


Quince membrillo.
A classic way to eat quince – a paste which is traditionally served with Manchego in Spain. It is easy to make and stores well. Eat it with cheese, on its own, or add a little to flavour casseroles and sauces.

Makes 2kg

granulated sugar (for exact quantity see below)
2kg quince (or quince and cooking apples if you are short of quince)
a little ground cinnamon
Put the packets or bowl of sugar in a very low oven to warm up for about half an hour.

Roughly chop the unpeeled quinces and put into a pan with 300ml water. Cover and stew gently until the fruit is soft. Sieve or mouli the fruit and measure then purée. For each 600ml of purée, add 350g of sugar. Gently heat in a deep saucepan until the sugar has completely dissolved. Raise the heat and bring to the boil, stirring continuously to prevent it catching. As it reduces, it will spit and splatter, so cover your hand with a cloth.

After about 45 minutes the mixture will have turned a lovely reddish brown and will begin to come away from the side of the pan as you stir. Pour into baking trays lined with non-stick paper or an oiled mold. Leave, uncovered, at room temperature for 2-3 days before cutting into blocks or chunks.
- Quince membrillo recipe | Sarah Raven

- Ingredient Spotlight: Quince | Williams-Sonoma Taste:
Homemade Quince Paste with Manchego Cheese.
Quince Teacake with Sweet Syrup.
Quince Poached in Vanilla Syrup.

- Quince recipes | Nigel Slater | Life and style | The Guardian:
Roast quinces
Pickled quinces

- Quince | SimplyRecipes.com
- Quince tarte Tatin Recipe - David Lebovitz
- Vanilla-Poached Quince Recipe - David Lebovitz
- Rosy Poached Quince - David Lebovitz
- Celeriac In Olive Oil With Quince and Orange - Gourmet Kitchen Tales

in Russian:
- айвовое варенье
- Не пропустите сезон варенья из айвы! - stalic

Tomato Recipes.

-Summer Fest: 20 Tomato Recipes - Pinch My Salt:
Tomato Tarte Tatin
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2¾ pounds 2-inch tomatoes (or Roma tomatoes), halved and seeded
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon choppedfresh oregano
Salt and pepper, to taste
Pie pastry for a 12-inch tart
Extra sprigs fresh oregano (for garnish)

A peperonata.

A peperonata recipe straight from Rome | Kitchen sink tales | Life and style | The Guardian
by Rachel Roddy.

Serves 8
1kg red peppers
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
A small knob of butter
1 large onion, peeled and finely sliced
1 clove garlic, peeled and pressed
Salt, to taste
450g peeled plum tomatoes (or fresh when in season)
Red wine vinegar, to taste (optional)

1 Cut the peppers into strips, about 1cm wide and 6cm long, discarding the seeds, stalks and any pithy white bits.

2 In a heavy-based pan with a lid, warm the olive oil and butter over a medium-low heat, then cook the onion and garlic until soft, translucent and fragrant (they should not brown), which usually takes about 10 minutes. Add the peppers and a pinch of salt, stir, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring every now and then.

3 Add the tomatoes, stir and then leave, uncovered, at a lively simmer for 30-40 minutes. Stir occasionally, gently pressing the tomatoes against the side of the pan, so they break up.

4 The peperonata is ready when the peppers are soft and everything has come together into a thick stew (it shouldn’t be sloppy). Taste, season generously, and add a dash of vinegar to sharpen things up, should you want to.


More by Rachel Roddy: Rachel Roddy | The Guardian

Peperonata.

Peperonata from "Divina Cucina" blog.
Or Tuscan Bell Pepper-Red Onion Stew.
Notes:
For the pureed tomatoes, you can use a puree of fresh peeled and seeded tomatoes that have been briefly cooked to concentrate their flavor, or canned whole tomatoes that you've blended with their juices. (Canned tomatoes are often the better choice, since they are usually top-quality.)
If you make this with beautiful, ripe summer bell peppers, they should provide enough sweetness to balance the small amount of vinegar.
If your peppers are less sweet and the peperonata tastes a little too tart, add a tiny bit of sugar, a pinch at a time, until the flavor is balanced.

Don't brown the onion, just let it soften to a pale golden colour.
The texture of the peppers and onions should be silky and soft enough to crush between your fingers.
The stew will mellow when left in the fridge for a day or two.

4 large bell peppers, cut into 1 inch strips
4 large red onions, peeled and cut in half and into slices
olive oil
salt
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs red or white wine vinegar.
4 Tbs capers

Drizzle a little olive oil in a large skillet.
Add the peppers and onions.
Sprinkle with salt (this will bring the liquid out of the veggies.)
Cover and let cook until the peppers and onions have become soft.
Add the sugar and vinegar.
Turn up the heat and caramelize the vegetables.
Taste for the correct balance of sweet and sour.
I use regular white sugar and wine vinegar.
Add the capers, stir and turn off the heat.
This is great hot, but best the next day at room temperature.

More recipe and a word of caution:
- Skillet Steak Peperonata Recipe | Leite's Culinaria
A word of caution:
Don’t use green bell peppers in this peperonata.
We know, some of you love your green bell peppers.
And that’s very nice for you.
But red, yellow, and orange bell peppers have a distinctly different flavor profile, one whose sweet notes meld marvelously with the other ingredients here.
The rather unique smack of green bell peppers? Not so much. Trust us.

- Peperonata (Sweet Bell Peppers With Olive Oil, Onion, and Tomatoes) | Serious Eats
Notes:
For the pureed tomatoes, you can use a puree of fresh peeled and seeded tomatoes that have been briefly cooked to concentrate their flavor, or canned whole tomatoes that you've blended with their juices. (Canned tomatoes are often the better choice, since they are usually top-quality.)
If you make this with beautiful, ripe summer bell peppers, they should provide enough sweetness to balance the small amount of vinegar.
If your peppers are less sweet and the peperonata tastes a little too tart, add a tiny bit of sugar, a pinch at a time, until the flavor is balanced.

- Peperoni in padella (Angelina's Fried Peppers) | Memorie di Angelina
Take it from Angelina:
Don’t be shy with the oil.
You need to use a lot of oil to get the right flavor and consistency for this dish.
Make sure that all the vegetables glisten; if not, add more oil.
And use olive oil—no other oil will do.
You can remove the excess before serving if you want a lighter dish.
Many recipes for fried peppers call for adding a bit of fresh tomato or tomato purée. I’m not partial to either of these variations, but that’s a matter of personal preference.
Whatever other ingredients you decide to add to your fried peppers, be sure that you cook the peppers until they are actually done.
The Italian way with vegetables is to cook them until they are completely tender—not crisp-tender as in Asian stir-fry or trendy North American cooking.
This is particularly important for peppers; they have a completely different taste when they are raw, which some people have described (charitably if you ask me) as ‘tangy’.

- Nigel Slater's classic peperonata recipe | Life and style | The Guardian
The trick
The peppers must be sweet and ripe.
Don't brown the onion, just let it soften to a pale golden colour.
The texture of the peppers and onions should be silky and soft enough to crush between your fingers.
The stew will mellow when left in the fridge for a day or two.
The twist
I'm not sure I'd risk incurring the late Mrs David's wrath by introducing any twists, but it is worth noting its uses beyond that of an antipasto.
I have served it on both soft and toasted polenta, used it as a pasta sauce and even stirred cooked penne through it before baking it with a few slices of mozzarella on top.
Drained of its liquid, this recipe makes a splendid stuffing for sourdough sandwiches.
You could ring the changes with tarragon instead of the basil or even coriander leaves, as long as you don't call it peperonata.
I have used the last dregs from a dish as a pizza topping with surprising success.

- Peperonata | Williams-Sonoma
'via Blog this'

kale and caramelized onion stuffing.

kale and caramelized onion stuffing | smitten kitchen

Sourdough bread.

Apple Sourdough Bread Starter - Recipe by Kirsten Dixon:
Apple Sourdough Bread Starter
Author: Kirsten Dixon
Recipe type: Bread

To make your own sourdough bread starter, begin with good ingredients.
Some people use non-chlorinated, purified or distilled water and only organic flour so there aren’t any chemicals or pesticides that would inhibit lactobacillus growth.
It’s a personal choice to take those extra steps but since you are creating a starter batch that will be around for a long time, why not make it as pure as possible?
INGREDIENTS
2 Granny Smith (or other) tart green apples
6 tablespoons sugar
3 cups water
2½ cups all-purpose flour
INSTRUCTIONS
Cut up the apples into chunks and place in a bowl (I leave the skin on but you can peel the apple if you prefer), add in the sugar and ½ cup of the water.
Cover the bowl.
Let it sit for about a week in a warm place in the kitchen, checking on it now and then.
If for some reason the apple has dried out, add in a little more water.
The apple will soften and turn into something that looks like applesauce.
Make sure your sourdough container is well washed.
Add in the flour, the remaining water, and the apple mash.
That’s it.
Set the covered starter in a warm place and now you have a living pet that has to be fed and watered, sometimes every day.
To maintain your sourdough, the general rule is to add in equal weight amounts of flour and water (roughly 1 cup flour and ½ cup water) as you use the sourdough.
If you don’t bake enough to use sourdough every week, then you’ll need to add in, or “feed” the starter with additional flour and water.
You might have to remove a little bit of the old starter to add in new flour and water so you don’t outgrow your container.
If you don’t use your sourdough for an extended period of time, place it into the refrigerator or freezer until ready to reactivate.
NOTES
Makes about 4 cups of starter.

Related Recipes:

- Best-selling author William Alexander: Levain, sourdough, starter...call it want you want — it is the secret to authentic, yeasty, artisan bread. certainly read!

- Basic sourdough bread | LITTLE SCANDINAVIAN:

- Links | Northwest Sourdough - Sourdough Bread Baking Courses:

- Bread Experience bread baking blog:

- New Nordic Cuisine | New Scandinavian Cooking:

Warm spiced cauliflower and chickpea salad with pomegranate seeds.

Simply Nigella Cookbook | Williams-Sonoma Taste

Ingredients
3 tbsp regular olive oil
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 small head cauliflower, trimmed and divided into small florets
250g/9oz home-cooked chickpeas (drained weight) or a 400g tin chickpeas
1–2 tbsp harissa, to taste
4 small ripe vine tomatoes (approximately 150g/5½oz), quartered
1 tsp sea salt flakes, or to taste
3–4 tbsp pomegranate seeds
large bunch (approximately 100g/3½oz) flatleaf parsley

Preparation method
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7.
Pour the oil into a large bowl, add the cinnamon and cumin seeds, and stir.
Tip in the cauliflower and toss to coat.
Pour into a small oven tray (I mostly use a disposable foil baking tray measuring 30x20cm/12x8in) and place in the oven for 15 minutes.
Don’t wash out the bowl you’ve been using.
Add the chickpeas to the bowl, and add the harissa, tasting it first to see if you want both tablespoonfuls.
Toss to coat.
Add the tomatoes to the bowl, and stir to mix.
Remove the cauliflower and quickly tip the chickpeas and tomatoes over the cauliflower.
Toss to combine and return to the oven for 15 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle the salt over the vegetables, add half of the pomegranate seeds and toss to combine. Divide between 2 bowls.
Divide the parsley leaves – without chopping them – between the 2 bowls and toss to mix.
Scatter with the remaining pomegranate seeds and serve.

How to Make the Best Pie Crust and Apple Pie.

- Slideshow: Step-by-Step: How to Make the Best Pie Crust: Serious Eats | Serious Eats
- Slideshow: Step-by-Step: How to Make a Perfect Apple Pie: Serious Eats | Serious Eats
- Step-by-Step: How to Make a Perfect Apple Pie | Serious Eats

Membrillo (Quince Paste).

- Easy quince cheese recipe (membrillo) | The Cottage Smallholder
- Membrillo (Quince Paste) Recipe | SimplyRecipes.com
- Membrillo
- Got Quince? Make Quince Paste! (Membrillo) — The Cheesemonger | The Kitchn
Membrillo (Quince Paste).
Method

Chop the quinces – there’s no need to peel or core them, but make sure the fur you sometimes find on their skin is washed off – and put them in a large saucepan with just enough water to cover.
Simmer gently for 30 minutes or until the flesh is really soft and collapsing.
Push the mixture through a sieve with the back of a wooden spoon, then measure the purée – there should be just under 1 litre.
Put the purée back in the pan with 450g sugar for every 600ml of purée.
Heat gently, stirring from time to time to help the sugar dissolve, then bring to the boil and cook gently for 30–40 minutes or until the mixture is so thick that if you scrape a wooden spoon through it, the purée parts and leaves a clean line at the bottom of the pan.
You need to stir frequently and get well into the edges of the pan to make sure you don’t leave bits that could stick and burn, and be careful not to get splashed by hot, bursting bubbles of purée.
Spread the mixture into lightly oiled dishes or moulds, or pot in clean, sterilised jars.
The membrillo will set firm as it cools and will keep for up to 6 months in the fridge.

Quince Membrillo is equally lovely, but I also like to make a jelly, which I store in little jars.
Quince jelly
Summary:
This is very easy to make.
If you haven’t a jelly bag, line a colander with a large piece of muslin standing over a bowl to catch the juice.
Serve the jelly with lamb and game dishes or just with toast and butter.
Quince Cydonia japonica belong to the same family as apples and pears (Rosaceae), the shape resembling either one.
Quinces are hard and cannot be eaten raw but they have a wonderful, fragrant flavour when cooked.
The seeds contain a high proportion of pectin so quinces make excellent jellies as do the ornamental fruit of Chaenomeles.
To me the smaller fruits of Chaenomeles are often more likely to be in the garden waiting to be put to some use in the kitchen.
Wedges of peeled quince give depth of flavour to an apple pie or crumble.
Ingredients:
1/2 kg sugar
1/2 litre (1 pint) quince liquid pulp
Details:
Achieving the perfect results
Wipe the fruit, cut it up roughly but do not core or peel.
Put the chopped fruit in a pan, barely cover with water and simmer until soft and pulpy.
Strain through a jelly bag overnight.
Measure the liquid, for every pint add 500g granulated or caster sugar.
Add the sugar to the pan with the strained liquid and over a gently heat, stir until the sugar is dissolved. Once dissolved boil for 10 minutes.
Test for setting by spooning a little on a plate, cool for a few minutes push your finger through the jelly and if it wrinkles it is ready for setting.
The colour should be a glorious pink.
Pour into sterilized jar, seal and label.

Popular Date Varieties.

Three main types of dates are grown:
Soft dates are mostly eaten fresh, are mild in flavor, with lower sugar content.
They're more common in the Middle East, though other world areas import them during Ramadan.
Hard dates are dry and fibrous even when fresh, hence the nicknames of "camel" dates or "bread" dates.
Drying intensifies their hard consistency and also their sweetness, and they'll last for years.
Nomads relied on these dates as staples, often grinding them into flour. Today, trekkers pack these firm dates as survival snacks.
Semi-dry dates are what most Westerners enjoy. They're aromatic, softer and chewier, with a pleasant level of sweetness.

There are thousands of named date varieties.
They fall into two main categories, soft and dry, and are most readily available from fall through winter.
The succulence of freshly picked dates will astonish anyone who has never tasted one before.