Quince Tart with Sour Cream Pastry

I wish i wasn't so interested in making great desserts and cakes. Its the eating, which is integral part of the experience, that really causes the problems! And no sadly i don't seem to be able to stop at tasting. If you have success making this recipe you will understand why.

You need to prepare three or fours quinces by peeling and slicing them and then cooking them for three hours with some sugar on the stove top for three - four hours or baking them in the oven for the same amount of time. They should come out a beautiful red colour.

I use Maggie Bear's sour cream pastry recipe for the base.

200g chilled unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces

250g plain flour

1/2 cup sour cream

Put butter and flour into the bowl of the food processor, then pulse until mixture resemble bread crumbs. Add the sour cream and pulse again until the dough just forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill for 15-20mins. Roll out the dough on some baking paper and line a 20cm tart time with a removable base. Chill the pastry case for 20min. To blind bake, preheat the oven to 200 c. Line the pastry case with foil, then cover with pastry weights. Blind bake for 15mins, then remove the foil and pastry weights and bake for another 5mins.

Cover the pastry base with quince paste or plum jam (or something similar) then cover the base well with the pieces of quince. Bake for 30mins approx and serve with cream. I was a bit short on quinces for the last one i made and i added some preserved peaches.

porcini, chicken ball soup

This recipe was listed in the Good Weekend magazine not so long ago and i have made it twice. It wouldn't be hard to adapt it to an asian style soup by omitting the parmesan replacing it with fresh coriander and exchanging rice or soba noodles for pasta. It calls for porcini mushrooms but i happened to use shitaki the other night and it was still great. It's perfect fodder for the cold nights ahead.

Porcini Chicken Ball and Noodle Soup

size 14 chicken skinned with breast removed and reserved

2 brown onions, cut in half

2 carrots

2 celery sticks

10 sprigs of parsley

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp pepper corns

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

extra virgin olive oil

3 shallots, finely diced

3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

30g porcini mushrooms soaked in 2 tbsp boiling water

3 sprigs thyme

80g fresh breadcrumbs

30g grated parmesan

3 eggs

150g broken spaghetti

120g frozen peas

1 lemon, juiced

to make stock, place chicken carcass ( with legs attached) in a large pot, along with onion, carrot, celery, parsley, bay leaves, and peppercorns, and enough cold water to cover. Bring to the simmer, add 2tsp salt and simmer for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, add a splash of oil to a small pot over med heat and fry shallots and garlic for 2 mins. Add drained porcini and thyme and cook for 2 minutes.

Chop breast meat into small dice and place in a food processor, pulsing until you have mince. Combine chicken mince with cooled porcini mixture, breadcrumbs, parmesan, s and p and 1 egg. Roll mixture in small balls about the size of 20cent piece across.

Strain stock (about 1.5 ltrs) into a clean pot, setting aside chicken carcass, and bring to a simmer. Skim any excess oil and bits off the top. Add broken pasta, simmer 6 mins, then add chicken balls. Pull meat from chicken legs and chop, then add to stock and simmer for 4 mins. Season with s and p and add peas. Whisk 2 eggs and lemon juice together and add to soup. Bring almost back to the boil and serve.