What an exotic title! Actually, this is simply the Spanish form of cheese with fruit, but what fruit! My second favorite fruit in the world is quince, after fresh figs. I developed a thing for for fresh figs when I spent a whole summer in Israel. To me, the dried ones bear little resemblance to the luscious juiciness of a fresh ripe one right off the tree. But, I digress.
I tasted my first quince when they became available many years ago at my local supermarket. I bought a bunch, attracted by their heavenly fragrance, and the fact that I knew nothing about them, a sure bet to get me to buy almost any fruit. Once home, I realized that they were not really funny-looking apples, and were extremely unappealing when we tried to eat them raw. In pre-Internet days, I had to go through a considerable number of cookbooks to find any reference to them. After an hour of searching through tables of contents, I finally found a recipe in an old Joy of Cooking which produced incredibly delicious, and magically ruby red (the white and yellow quinces turn this color all by themselves when cooked!) sliced quinces in syrup, which I put up in jars and used sparingly to “kick up a notch” apple pies and compotes. The recipe calls for cooking the peels as well as the slices in order to up the amount of pectin in the syrup. The peels are discarded afterwards.
I discovered membrillo when I first began shopping at my local Fresh Fields, which has become Whole Foods. While I was poring over the incredible cheese selection, I spotted small and very expensive shallow plastic trays of the stuff. Knowing how much I loved quince, Saul encouraged me to splurge when we were preparing a special party. Manchego is the traditional cheese that is eaten with membrillo, and together, the combination is dynamite.
Now, spurred on by some beautiful and cheap quinces I purchased at Assi Market, and through the magic of the Internet and some gorgeous photos from a food blog called Cannelle et Vanille, I have succeeded in making a great quantity of my own membrillo that is infinitely cheaper and better than any I have ever tasted before. Costco has a roughly two-pound wedge of Manchego available for about $16.00, enough to last for a few months, or one very large party of people who love this stuff as much as I do.
The recipe I used called for baking at 125°F. for a couple of hours. It was then that I discovered that the lowest setting on my oven is 170°F. As it turned out, after baking it at that temperature for almost a whole day, and much frustration and testing, I discovered that I needed to bake it in my convection oven at 225°F. I had put it in a cushion air pan, so at that temperature, it finally thickened and jelled very nicely after two to three hours, without any trace of burning at the edges. I also refrigerated it overnight before slicing with a pizza wheel.
The recipe called for draining the slices after cooking and did not mention using the peels at all. I was not about to waste the cooking liquid or the peels, so I devised a recipe that also used the rhubarb I had found at Assi Market, some Pink Lady and Granny Smith apples I had on hand, and a handful of Craisins to make a wonderful compote. That recipe will follow, probably tomorrow. I am now in quince heaven. I hope all this isn’t too fattening. If it is, I guess I will need to make a party soon.
Homemade Membrillo based on a Recipe from Simply Recipes
- 4 lbs. quince, washed, peeled, cored and chopped (reserve peels for compote)
- 1 vanilla bean, split in half
- zest (only yellow part) and juice of one large lemon
- 4 cups, approximately, of granulated sugar, exact amount to be determined during cooking
- 1/2 Tbsp. of unsalted butter
Strain the water from the quince pieces, reserving for compote. Remove the vanilla bean scraping down any black specks that remain inside into the quince pieces. Keep the pod with the cooking water for making compote. Keep the lemon peel with the quince pieces.
Purée the quince pieces in a food processor, blender, or food mill. Measure the purée. Whatever amount of quince purée you have, that’s how much sugar you will need. If you have 4 cups of purée, you’ll need 4 cups of sugar. Return the purée to the same pan. Heat to medium-low, stirring. Watch out for sputtering purée and keep the lid handy to cover quickly just in case. When hot, add all of the sugar and stir with a long-handled spoon until the sugar has completely dissolved. Add the lemon juice.
Continue to cook uncovered over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 1 to 1-1/2 hours until the quince paste is very thick and has a deep orange pink color.
Preheat the oven to 225°F. If you have a convection oven, don’t be afraid to use it for this. The blowing air creates additional dehydration. Melt butter in the preheated oven in an 8x8 inch or other appropriately-sized pan. A cushion air or tempered glass pan will keep the heat evenly distributed to prevent caramelization and burning. Line the pan with parchment (not waxed) paper, and flip over so that the paper is buttered on top, leaving a slight overhang. Ideally, you want the paste to be about a half to three-quarters of an inch thick to set properly. Pour the cooked quince paste into the parchment paper-lined baking pan, evenly smoothing out the top. Bake for two to three hours. When a thick, sliceable consistency has been reached, turn off the oven, leaving the door closed, and allow to come to room temperature.
Remove from oven and refrigerate overnight. Turn out onto a clean cutting board by inverting pan and gently tugging on an overhanging corner of parchment. A greased pizza wheel will facilitate cutting it into small squares or wedges without drag. Store in shallow sealed containers in the refrigerator. It should keep as long as any jam.
To serve traditionally, present with Manchego cheese. To eat, take a small slice of the membrillo and spread it on top of a thin slice of the cheese. Delicious!
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