The Beautiful and Useful Quince

I don't like having stuff around the place that isn't useful. Stuff that's purely decorative just bugs me. Oafish coffee table books that nobody's interested in, dried flowers, bowls of glass or metal balls. Sorry, but I just don't see the point.

Which is a bit hypocritical really, when I routinely buy fruit and vegetables purely for their looks. I display them in a lovely bowl, admire them, rearrange them, photograph them... until they go rotten and I have to throw them in the compost. Hardly any more virtuous than dried flowers and pretentious coffee table books!

Here's what has perished in lovely bowls in this house in recent memory: persimmons, pomegranates, eggplants (the gorgeous pinky-white stripey variety), pears with a deep reddy purple blush, and quinces. A scandal I know. It's just that some fruit and veges are so gorgeous I simply can't take a knife to them.

There is a case for leaving quinces lying around the house though. They have the most delicious, complex scent -- pineapple + peach (or plum?) with a hint of citrus, and when they're really ripe, a bit of banana. So they're not just useless eye candy.

Anyway, I've been on a waste eradication bender recently, so I decided to "waste not the quinces". I'm very glad I did. Quince crumble is truly a step up the crumble ladder.

Quinces have a reputation for being difficult to prepare, but if you've got a sharp knife, a steady hand and a sturdy potato peeler, you'll have them peeled and sliced in no time. If you want to stop them going brown, put them in a bowl of cold water with the juice of a lemon. I don't really know if that's necessary, but Nigel Slater says to do it so I do it.

Nigel's Tender Volume 2 is my first port of call for cooking fruit, and this crumble was inspired by that book.

HOW TO

•  Peel and core 4 - 5 quinces.
• Melt 50 gm butter and 40gm caster sugar (infused with vanilla if you're so inclined) in a wide, heavy bottomed pan.
• Slide the quince slices in, and cook them until just tender. The heat needs to be lowish, but not sluggish. 
• Turn the fruit, so it cooks evenly. Nigel predicts 25 - 30 mins to cook, but mine were done in ten. 

THE CRUMBLE

• 75 gm cold butter, cut into small cubes
• 75 gm flour
• 40 gm sugar (I just used white sugar, but experiment)
• 40gm ground almonds (new to me, but yum.)
• Rub them all together with your fingers (or process in food processor). Think crumble, not paste!

Pour the quinces into an oven proof dish, sprinkle with the crumble, and bake at 180 degrees for half an hour, or until the crumble is crunchy and the quince is bubbling.

Good enough to eat out of the baking dish, good enough to eat for breakfast with cream. So Good. All the quince fragrance and smoothness balanced with cream and crunch.

I will never leave a quince to rot again.