Fruits

The now-or-never raspberry scones

| Green Card Gardener

Most cooks I know have a collection of recipes that they ripped out of some magazine or newspaper with the intention of trying them out some time. I have made it a habit of cleaning those out once in a while, discarding the ones that, if I am honest to myself, I will never ever make.

Corby Kummer’s Raspberry-and-Raisin Tea Scones from The Atlantic were on their way out. I am not sure whether it was that the recipe calls for the flour being sifted five times (I usually never sift flour), or that I could not warm up to the combination of raspberries and raisins.

But because I have frozen raspberries from the garden, and I seriously need to start cooking and baking my way down our overfilled freezer, I gave the recipe a try. However, I made a few changes. I used dried cranberries instead of raisins, and canola oil instead of olive oil. As the dough was a sticky mess, cutting was difficult. So I ended up shaping the scones by hand, but I did this very quickly, so that the consistently would not become too dense – why, otherwise, would I have sifted the flour five times?

I find the result yummy – light and with a subtle sweetness, so you can still put jam or jelly on them. Now I am waiting to hear what my family tasting panel says.

Raspberry-Cranberry Scones

2¾ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

½ cup canola oil

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

½ cup unsweetened dried cranberries (preferably organic)

½ cup frozen raspberries

1. Sift the flour five times into a large bowl. Mix with the baking powder and salt.

2. Whisk the buttermilk with the canola oil, sugar and 1 egg in a small bowl.

3. Add the liquids to the flour mixture and quickly work it in with a spatula until the dough holds together. Fold in the cranberries Do not overwork the dough.

4. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

5. Place a large piece of wax paper on the counter. Put the dough in the middle of it and place another sheet of wax paper of the same size on top. Pat the dough with your hand to an equal thickness, about the size of letterhead paper.

6. Peel off the top layer of wax paper and sprinkle the individual raspberries over half of the dough. Fold the other half of the dough over it.

7. Place the top wax paper on top of the dough gain and flatten the dough slightly. 8. Remove the paper and cut the dough into 12 to 14 equal pieces.

9. With floured hands, quickly and lightly shape round, about 3-inch scones, taking care not to compress the dough.

10. Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Whisk the remaining egg and brush the scones with it.

11. Place the baking sheet into the freezer for 10 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the freezer and brush the scones again with the egg wash.

12. Put the baking sheet in the oven and reduce the temperature to 425 degrees F. Bake for 18 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet immediately and cool completely on a wire rack.

Makes 12 to 14 scones

Quince finale (double header)

| Green Card Gardener

When I started gardening I always made lists of what I wanted to accomplish that day, or that week. However those lists quickly became a source of frustration. Once outside, I always got sidetracked by the many additional things that need to be done.

As a result, today, on a gorgeous early fall day, I am happily working in the garden without a list. I only came into the house to write down the last two quince recipes, and, of course, to have a slice of the Quince Meringue Pie I made this morning.

Quince Sorbet

8 cups water

1¼ cups sugar, more to taste

2 pounds peeled and cored quinces

¼ cup applejack

You also need:

An ice-cream maker

1. Bring water and sugar to a boil. Cut the quinces into chunks and cook covered for about 40 minutes, or until soft. Remove from the heat and cool.

2. Puree the quinces very finely with all of the cooking liquid. As long as you peeled and cored the quinces neatly, there is no need to strain the mix. Refrigerate overnight.

3. Add the applejack to the chilled mixture and stir well. Process in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Since this recipe makes a large amount, I processed it in two batches and put the freezer bowl back in the freezer after the first batch until it was solidly frozen again.

4. Fill sorbet in airtight freezer containers and freeze for 12 hours, or until solidly frozen.  Take sorbet out of the freezer 15 to 20 minutes before serving to soften, but not much longer because it melts quickly.

Makes 1.5 quarts

Quince Meringue Pie

This pie tastes best the same day, as the meringue tends to get soggy after a while.

Pie crust:

1 cup flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1/3  cup (about 2½ ounces) shortening, at room temperature

4-6 tablespoons quince poaching liquid, chilled

Filling and topping:

2 ounces unpeeled almonds, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons golden raisins

1 teaspoon golden rum

16 ounces poached quinces, drained

3 egg whites

2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

You also need:

A pastry blender

Wax paper

A 9-inch pie pan with removable rim

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

2. For the pie crust, mix flour, salt and shortening with a pastry blender until crumbly. Add poaching liquid by tablespoons until the dough holds together in a ball. Blend briefly to get rid of any lumps.

3. Roll out the dough to an 11-inch circle between two sheets of wax paper. Remove the top layer of the wax paper and flip the wax paper over to fit the circle into a 9-inch fluted pie pan with removable rim. Carefully remove the wax paper. Let the dough come up to the height of the rim. Trim the dough along the rim with a sharp knife.

4. Loosely line the crust with lightly greased aluminum foil (shiny side down) and fill with pie weights. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, remove the pie weights and the aluminum foil and bake for 10 to 13 more minutes, or until the crust has a golden brown color. Let cool on a wire rack. Do not turn the oven off.

5. While the pie crust is baking, toast the almonds in an ungreased pan until lightly browned and fragrant. Set aside to cool.

6. Wash the raisins under warm water and pat dry with a paper towel. Mix with the rum in a small bowl.

7. Whip the egg whites until very stiff, gradually adding the confectioners’ sugar.

8. Carefully toss the poached quince slices with the almonds and raisins with rum. Arrange them on the cooled crust. Top with the meringue and bake in a 350 degrees F preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until the peaks are lightly browned. Remove the pie rim and let cool on a wire rack.

Quinces part 2

| Green Card Gardener

After looking at dozens of quince recipes (there’s really not so much out there), I poached a good amount of the quinces, which was the easiest and most versatile way. Any recipe that uses quinces whole or with their skins still on was a reject right away, because as much as I like quinces, I do not like the particular taste of their skins and cores.

I followed the recipe for poached quinces from Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Fruit, using a full two pounds of peeled and cored quinces. That leaves me with a big container of quinces in syrup to use for pies, desserts and other experiments.

This morning I wanted to do something quick so I made Quince Danish. I couldn’t get away from my desk so I left the puff pastry thaw on the countertop for too long. It was sticky and difficult to handle but it still tasted good.

Quince sorbet is next.

Quince Danish

2 cups sugar

6 cups water

½ organic lemon, in slices

½ vanilla bean

2 pounds peeled and cored quinces

1 sheet puff pastry

2 tablespoons sour cream

2 tablespoons cream cheese

Apple or crabapple jelly for brushing

1. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a heavy saucepan. When the sugar is dissolved, add the lemon.

2. Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds with a sharp knife. Add pod and seeds to the pot.

3. Cut the quinces into rather thick wedges and add the them to the pan. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes, or until the quinces are soft but not falling apart. Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Remove the vanilla bean and the lemon. Refrigerate.

4. Let the frozen puff pastry thaw for about 30 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

6. Place the puff pastry on a sheet of wax paper and cut it into 8 rectangles of even size.

7. Stir sour cream and cream cheese until smooth. Put a small dollop of the mix in the middle of each rectangle. Arrange 5-6 quinces slices on top, leaving enough space around the edges to crimp the dough.

8. Crimp the dough all around. Place the rectangles on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the quince slices with apple jelly and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until puffed up and golden.

9. Transfer to a wire rack immediately and cool.

Makes 8 small Danish

Quince a surpise

| Green Card Gardener

When I was biking to the post office this afternoon, our neighbor yelled over „Hey, I have quinces. Do you want some?“ Did I want some?!?

Last fall I asked every local farmer and vendor at farm markets for quinces, to no avail. Then, at the end of October, our neighbor spotted a couple of abandoned quince trees at the place where he presses his apples for cider. So one evening he knocked on our door with a big basket of quinces. They were already way past their prime but I was happy nonetheless. I divided the quinces into small batches to use them for as many different recipes as I could. The quince compote was yummy, other things were not so good yet the overall quince experience and taste made me want to try out more recipes with this ugly duckling of the fruit world.

Ugly duckling… maybe not. The quinces I lugged home today are big, plump and beautiful.

Now I have all weekend to think about what I am going to do with them.