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Bay Poached Quince, Vanilla Rice Pud - Georgie Mullen

BAY POACHED QUINCE, VANILLA RICE PUDDING

A gorgeous way to eat this gorgeous fruit.

Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 5 hours
Total Time 6 hours
Servings 4 servings (with leftover rice pudding)

Ingredients

  • 600 g caster sugar
  • 2 bay leaves
  • thumb-sized piece ginger roughly sliced
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 kg quinces

for the rice pudding

  • 175 g pudding rice
  • 1 L whole milk
  • 150 ml double cream
  • 80 g caster sugar
  • 1 vanilla pod sliced lengthways
  • pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 140℃ (fan-assisted).

  2. Start by poaching the quinces. Combine the sugar, bay leaves, ginger and 1L of water in large ovenproof pan. Squeeze in the juice from your lemon, then chuck the carcass in, too. Set the pan over a medium heat and bring it to a simmer, stirring regularly until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat.

  3. Meanwhile, you can prepare the quinces. Peel them (keep the skins), chop them into quarters and remove the core (make sure you properly remove all core, as it doesn’t soften with the poaching and it ruins their texture. Trust, I've been there...).

  4. Add the prepared quinces into the sugar syrup, then tie up the peelings in a little muslin cloth and add that in too. Cut a piece of parchment paper the same diameter as the pan and lay that on top of everything, to help keep the quinces below the water (this is called a cartouche!). Clamp on the lid, then bake for 4-5 hours, or until the quinces are soft all the way through, but still definitely holding their shape. Switch off the oven, but leave the pan in there until the quinces, and their liquid, have cooled completely. Transfer into an airtight container, and keep refrigerated.

  5. When your quinces are all lovely and poached, you can make the rice pudding. Start by washing the rice really, really well under cold water - 5 minutes or so. Don’t skip this step. It will prevent the pudding from becoming too starchy.

  6. Combine the washed rice, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla pod and a little pinch of salt in a saucepan and give everything a good stir. Set the pan over a low-medium heat and bring to a very gentle simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, for 30-40 minutes, until the rice is just about cooked (if you overcook it here, it will turn mushy, which none of us want!).

  7. Serve the rice pudding warm in cute little bowls, piled high with the poached quinces and drizzled with a little of the poaching liquid.