Seasonal ingredient of the week: Quince

IN SEASON: October - December

Quince is a delicious but quite unknown winter fruit from the same family as apples and pears with yellow skin and hard flesh. Although it’s quite bitter and shouldn’t be eaten raw, once fully ripe and cooked, it is sweet, soft and gooey. Try it baked, stewed, or poached - cooking quince can take quite some time, we recommend cooking them for a least 40 minutes.

Quince are in season in the UK from around mid-October but are quite hard to find in supermarkets due to the lack of demand in recent years, though they tend to be available at farmers markets or specialty stores when in season.

TIPS:

- To the best taste, quince needs to be cooked for quite a while. We recommend a minimum of 40 minutes, but you could leave it to stew in a slow cooker or large pan over a low heat all day.

Recipe:

METHOD

1. Cook quinoa in 3 cups of water with a pinch of salt until the water has evaporated. Turn off the heat and put lid on the pot, leave to stand for 5 mins. 

2. Pick the kale off the stalks and then wash and dry the leaves. In 3 batches put the kale leaves into a food processor until it’s coarsely chopped. 

3. Chop the tomatoes into small cubes, then finely slice spring onions and mix all ingredients together in a bowl (quinoa, kale, spring onions, tomatoes, lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and salt).

Best served with home made houmous and falafel

KALE TABBOULEH
Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

- 300g kale
- 2 cups white quinoa 
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 lemons juice + zest
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 bunch spring onion