Quince Clafoutis
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup whole milk
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted melted
- 1/2 cup flour
- 3 cups sliced poached quince cold, see note for details
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Butter one 9 inch round pie or tart pan with tall sides.
- Arrange the slices of quince on the bottom of the pan. In a medium bowl, beat together sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Slowly add the flour and salt and mix thoroughly. Mix in the butter. Slowly beat in the milk and vanilla.
- (If you worried there are any lumps, whisk through a sieve)
- Pour the custard over the quince in the pie pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until puffy, browned and the center no longer jiggles to the touch.
- Excellent warm or at room temperature. This is best the day it is made.
Notes
- This is how I poached the quince, feel free to do it however you’d like.
- The quince should be cold when you go to make the clafouti. I poached the quince and then made this several days apart but you could poach the quince and then refrigerate it for a couple hours first.
- I’ve heard of jarred quince in syrup, I see no reason why you couldn’t substitute that but I have not tried it
I really had never seen quince for sale until I was at this build a bat house event at the Museum of Industry while their little farmers market was going on. I had read only one farm in the country grows it commercially (in California!) for I guess stores. Judging from the lack of quince recipes out in the world, I don’t think I’m alone. Almost all of the recipes were for making membrillo, quince paste, which is delicious and makes sense from a preservation standpoint but how much membrillo can one person (and her husband) eat? I really wanted to make khoresh-e beh, a Persian stew with quince and had all of the other ingredients (including the dried limes!) but bizarrely I couldn’t find stew meat (lamb or beef) or a good roast to cut up myself.
Dessert seemed like an easier answer. I thought about ice cream but wasn’t sure if it would work, quince are very pectin rich and I’ve always thought that was why apple and pear ice cream is not popular. Maybe a cake? Self saucing pudding? I put myself through the paces and then thought why not clafoutis? Traditionally it’s made with unpitted cherries (ouch) but you can use any fruit. We’re not in France. Plus it seemed simple yet fancy enough to merit a fruit like quince.
Quince really is what I will forever think of as fragrant and floral when it comes to fruit. The first days I had the fruit in the fruit basket, the whole house smelt like I like was endlessly burning an exotic candle. This is the type of fruit that really shines in a simple custard. Quince starts out white but turns rosy when cooked and I love seeing that peek out through the custard. For give the knife stab in the middle of the picture but isn’t it so pretty and creamy looking. I love when something so simple looks so impressive and tastes so good.