pineapple quince

A pineapple quince (in the background are
pomegranates, also from our CSA)

Arrived in our CSA box three weeks ago were a couple pineapple quinces!  This was very exciting for me as although I have heard of and even seen quinces before, I have actually never ever tried one. I don't even think I've had any food made with quince before, at least none that was memorable. Anyway, I was so excited by these unusually large (compared to the "normal" quince that I've seen at the shops) delights that I did a little research and discovered two quince characteristics that intrigued me even more: 
1)  They apparently have an amazing floral fragrance, and 
2)  They blush!  (the cooking process apparently turns them an amazing crimson colour).
Despite my tired pregnant state, this got me back into the kitchen =)   I made two things out of the two quinces: 

Two containers of dulce de membrillo
from a single quince. 

dulce de membrillo
The recipe I tried was inspired by The Traveler's Lunchbox, which was very similar to many of the other recipes on the internet; this is unsurprising as this spread is really simple to make!!  The reason for this is that quinces are naturally rich in pectin allowing them to be turned into jelly extremely easily. The only things I did differently were:
1)  I added the juice of a lime, prompted by a separate article I read, and 
2)  I only added about 1/4 cup of sugar (much less than asked for) for the one quince I had (I don't have a kitchen scale so did not measure the exact weight of quince or sugar).  
It turned out fantastically!!!  The only disappointment was that the membrillo did not turn as red as I had hoped. I attributed this to this particular variety of quince.  Nonetheless, I was happy with how they turned out and was eager to try them with some manchego cheese we bought just for this =P  Coincidentally, we were able to share the first batch with some friends, one of whom was Argentinian and I was delighted to watch her snack on my dulce de membrillo as she told us how her family used to make these all the time =)  

Poached quince

poached quince with vanilla and cinnamon
For this, I adapted the recipe from the wednesday chef. Interestingly, this was actually the first time I cooked with vanilla beans as well (I've always just used vanilla essence)!  I was delightfully surprised by the vanilla's aroma!  Between this and the cinnamon, the aroma of the poached quince was just heavenly.  Unfortunately, as with the dolce de membrillo, the only disappointment was the lack of ruby hue I was really hoping for =(  Although no icing on the cake, the cake still tasted darn good ;-) 
We drank most of the syrup as we ate the quince though the wednesday did suggest stirring it into tea (I'm sure it's a really good suggestion if you are a tea drinker who also happens to add sugar to your tea). 


The notable absence of these delights in our subsequent CSA boxes saddened me... but then, I saw them at the Farmer's Market =D  I think poached quince will be on our (first) Thanksgiving menu this year =) 

salmon and cucumber filo

After several disappointments, we recently decided to join yet another CSA: Nevermore Farm.  Two things that set this one apart from the others were: (1) it was recommended by a friend, and (2) they were amazingly obliging! One of our problems with CSAs in the past was that we often get way more veggies than we can consume. But Nevermore was able to fulfill our requests of a delivery only once every two weeks and for each box to have a higher fruit to veggie ratio (it is much easier to snack on fruits than veggies!)!! We received our first box last Thursday and we were very satisfied =)
One of the intriguing ingredients that came with the box was two funny looking cucurbits. Several Google image searches suggested they could be Armenian cucumbers.  Neither of us are really cucumber fans and despite cyberspace's positive opinions, we failed to see their uniqueness... However, not one to waste food, we decided to make something out of it, and this is when I came across this recipe: Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Nest. As with most other recipes I find, I modified it based on what I had at home at the time.  Although I don't know how the original recipe would have tasted, I quite enjoyed my version ;-)  I especially like this recipe because (1) it was dead easy to make (meaning I was not grumpy to cook after a long day's work), and (2) it was healthy!

ingredients

1/2 can ~15oz (425g) pink salmon in brine (we made two meals out of this can)

2 sheets of filo pastry

1 cup of coarsely grated cucumber

1/4 cup crumbed feta cheese

Melted butter

procedure

1.  Prepare filling: Using a fork, shred the salmon. Squeeze out as much water as you can from the grated cucumber. Combine and mix well the salmon, cucumber, and cheese.  

2.  Prepare the "nest": Cut the sheets in half to make four sheets. Stack the four sheets on top of each other, brushing each layer with melted butter. Divide (cut with a sharp knife) the stacked sheets into six equal sized rectangles, each large enough to fit into your muffin tins. Gently pressed them into six holes of your muffin pan; they should be like cupcake cups. Bake until slightly golden at temperature according to the filo manufacturer's directions

3.  Take the slightly golden filo cups out of the oven and fill each cup with the salmon and cucumber mixture. Return to oven and bake for another 3-6mins or until filo has reached desired browness. ( Alternatively, one could bake the filo cups until done, fill the cups with the mixture and serve without rebaking. )

4.  Gently remove from muffin tin and serve immediately. 

Enjoy.