Home



Pacific Palate with Don Genova

As heard on CBC Radio
My Classes
My Podcast
My Archives
Books
Links
About Me
My Blog
Contact Me


Past Food For Thought

Past Pacific Palate

Past So Much On My Plate

Past Recipes and Recommendations

2005 Shows
2004 Shows
2003 Shows
2002 Shows











Apple and Quince Recipes

Quince Paste
I have a quince tree on my property and every year it produces around 20 fragrant, yellow quinces. They are as hard as rocks, so you can’t eat them raw, you need to cook them. I adapted this recipe from one I found in Gourmet magazine. Serve small cubes of the paste with prosciutto or Serrano ham and some of the Spanish cheese called Manchego, or a nice sharp cheddar. Quince paste has a texture somewhere between that of stiff jelly and gumdrops. If you don’t have a quince tree now is the time to find some in your local grocery stores that may stock some out of the ordinary fruits.

Ingredients:

  • 12-15 quinces (about 8 pounds total)
  • 1- 2 cups water
  • 6-8 cups sugar

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Scrub quinces and pat dry. In a large roasting pan bake quinces, covered with foil, in middle of oven until tender, about 2 hours, and transfer pan to a rack. When quinces are cool enough to handle, with a sharp knife peel, quarter, and core them. You may have cooked them enough so they just collapse. If so, immediately push the pulp in batches through a large fine sieve, mixing with the water a bit at a time if necessary to thin it. Otherwise peel and core the quinces and puree the flesh in a food processor with some water.

Collect the puree in a liquid cup measure and measure amount of puree. Transfer puree to a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and add an equivalent amount of sugar.

Cook quince puree over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until it is thickened and begins to pull away from side of pan, about 25 minutes. Pour puree into a 9X13 inch glass lasagna dish that has been lined with parchment paper, smoothing the top of the puree with a spatula if necessary, and cool. Chill puree, loosely covered with plastic wrap, until set, about 4 hours.

Remove from the glass dish and wrap well in wax paper and then plastic wrap. Keep chilled and it should be fine for 3 months.

Cut the paste into cubes or thin slices and serve with manchego cheese and thinly sliced cured ham such as prosciutto or Serrano.




Tarte Tatin Benoit
Serves 8

This recipe is from Patricia Wells’ ‘The Paris Cookbook’. (Harper Collins, 2001) It’s a recipe that you get better at making the more you do it. So eat lots of apples in season! I used Northern Spies for my tarte tatins, and they worked beautifully, but you could also use Golden Delicious, Jonagolds, Fujis, or Cox’s Orange Pippins. You need a well-seasoned 9-inch cast iron skillet to make this recipe a success.

Ingredients:

1.) Spread the sugar evenly over the bottom of the cast iron skillet. Place the butter slices evenly over the sugar, then drizzle with the vanilla. Beginning at the outside edge of the pan, stand the apple haves on end on top of the butter. They should all face in one direction, with the rounded edge against the edge of the pan and the cut side toward the centre. Pack the apples as close together as possible. Make a second circle of apple halves inside the first. Place one apple half in the centre of the circle to fill any remaining space.

2.) Place the skillet over low heat and cook the apples in the butter and sugar, uncovered, until the butter/sugar mixture turns a thick, golden brown and just begins to caramelize. This will take about an hour. The liquid should remain at a gentle bubble. Baste the apples from time to time to speed up their cooking and to make for evenly cooked fruit. If the pieces lose their places a bit while cooking, you can nudge them back into formation.

3.) Pre-heat the oven to 425F.

4.) Take the skillet off the heat and place on top of a cookie sheet. Roll out the thawed pastry to size on a lightly floured work surface, then drape it over top of the apples, gently pushing the edges of the pastry down around the edge of the pan and trimming any excess. Place in the oven and bake until the pastry is golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Do not be concerned if the juices bubble over, this is normal.

5.) Remove the tart from the oven. Immediately invert a serving plate over the skillet and then quickly but carefully (using gloves, remember the skillet is hot!) invert the skillet and the plate together so the pastry ends up on the platter, with the apples on top. If any stick to the pan you can remove them and carefully place them back in the tart. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream or crème fraiche.




<< Back


Pacific Palate with Don Genova

My Classes
My Podcast
My Archives
Books
Links
About Us
My Blog
Contact Us



Reproduction of this web site and its content, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of Don Genova and Pacific Palate. © Don Genova and Pacific Palate Enterprises 2008.