A Weekend filled with Cooking
Finally back in the kitchen with squash and quince.
Finally! I had a relaxing weekend and was able to spend quality time in the kitchen.The first thing I did was make a butternut squash soup. It was cooler and rainy, and I thought it would be a perfect comfort soup. I took my basic pumpkin soup recipe and made some changes.
I omitted the corn and after puréeing the soup, added a teaspoon of red Thai curry. The soup is good, and very warming. But in order to get the "Thai taste" I think I'd substitute half of the milk with coconut milk. I'll keep you posted on my experiments.
Next on my list was to do something about the big bowl of quince I still have. I still haven't come up with a savory dish, although I'm thinking about a tajine of some sorts. So I did what I always do when I have fruit and it needs to be eaten: I make a crumble. Boring? Not at all. As much as I love a good decadent and elegant dessert, I also love rustic ones.
My husband's mother was telling me about all the walnuts she has this year and she offered to bring me some when we all met up at the wedding. She brought me a two pound bag of walnuts and they are so fresh and good. I have a small bowl on the living room table and one I start cracking the shells and eating them, I can't stop! In celebration of fall I combined a fall fruit with a fall nut and made quince walnut crumbles. Too good for words. The house smelled wonderfully of spices while the fruit poached.
Quince Walnut Crumbles
Note: I had enough fruit for 4 ramekins and crumble for much more. Put the left-over crumble in a plastic bag and keep in the freezer. The next time you need some topping, just crumble the frozen crumble over the fruit and stick in the oven.
3-5 quinces, depending on the size
water
2 star anice
5 cloves
half a cinnamon stick
sugar (quinces are like a sour green apple, but you don't want to make them too sweet)
Crumble:
100 g flour
80 g muscovado sugar
100 g butter
120 g almond flour
80 g roughly chopped walnuts
In a processor mix together the ingredients for the crumble, except for the walnuts, until pea-sized lumps appear. Mix in the nuts and refrigerate while poaching the quince.
Peal and core the quinces and slice. Put all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer until the fruit is soft, but not mushy, about 20 min. I prefer a "bite" to my fruit, but you can cook them more. Remove the quince with a slotted spoon and cool slightly.
Fill ramekins or baking dish with quince and top with crumble. Bake at 180° C for about 20 minutes.
Yesterday for dinner I made Pike-Perch with a red wine sauce for dinner. It was very good, but I'm not going to share the recipe since I'm not totally happy with the result. I'm going to tinker with it. But it was good and here is a picture of what it looked like.
