Quince cheese or Dulce de Membrillo

I found these beautiful looking quinces at the farmers market and could not stop my self from buying them.

They look like a cross between an apple and a pear, and though they are related to these fruits they are quite different.  They really can not be eaten raw as they are extremely hard and dense and are very sour.

Quince

I have never cooked with quinces before, but I have had quince cheese before and enjoyed it so I thought I would have a go at making it. What we call quince cheese here is a traditional south American treat called Dulce de Membrillo which is served with manchengo cheese.

I peeled the quinces cored them and chopped in to small pieces.  This was much harder than it sounds as they fruit is so dense that it is hard to cut the core out.  I was ready to give up at one point but I persevered.

Roast pork - Plain and simple

In England all pork roasts come with the skin on, but here in North America it is a rare treat.  A well roasted pork with crackling is both a wonder to behold and treat to eat. This week I discovered that one of the butchers at Granville Island sold not only suckling pig! but loin roast with the skin on, so I had to get one.

You do not have to born in England to enjoy crackling, we shared this with a friend from work and her husband both of whom were born in Canada and we were fighting over the crackling. (in a very polite Canadian kind of way) There is I believe a misconception that you cook pork on high to get a good crackling.  Pork really benefits from a long slow cooking to keep it moist and tender. This is how I cooked this pork roast, and the meat was moist and flavourful, and the crackling was everything crackling should be.

I rubbed the whole roast with a healthy helping of salt then placed it on a bed of fresh sage.

Conveniently the butcher had scored the skin all over and tied up the roast so I was saved from doing this. I placed the pork in a 400 oven for 30 minutes and then turned down the heat to 325 for 2 and 1/2 hours. and this is how it came out.

Roasted Parsnips

Parsnips are a much underrated vegetable here in North America, I am not sure why, but at this time of year along with the potatoes, carrots, beets and other root vegetables they are the kings of the farmers markets. My favourite way to cook parsnips is the same as many other vegetables, roasted.

This is dead easy.  Peel and cut the parsnips in to equal sized pieces place in a roasting tin, drizzle over olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese.

Granville Island

Every big city has a great market, Seattle has Pike Place Market London has Borough Market and Vancouver has Granville Island.  It truly is a world class market, and I am lucky enough to work with in walking distance to it.  But going at lunch time is bitter sweet as their really is not enough time to wander around and really enjoy it, and so it was a treat this Saturday to share hunting and gathering for dinner with my good friend Nancy.

The fruits and vegetables are beautifully displayed by all the vendors and really I do not have a favourite one for fresh produce, I just wander around and find which one has the best of what I want that day.  There is one who sells produce directly from the Okanagan, so the selection available varies by the time of year.  Right now there is an abundance of fresh crisp apples and on their stall this week they had these wonderful gourds which look for all the world like a pair of swans in love.

There are a couple of permanent stores that are my favourites, that I nearly always go to, one of those is Oyama Sausage

Pot Roast plain and simple

Sometimes it is good to keep things simple, and on the weekend I got a cross rib roast from Hopcott's and I decided to cook it with my home canned tomato puree. As these were both really good flavourful ingredients I decided to keep it really simple and not add a lot in the way of herbs or spices.

So the ingredients list is short.

4lb pot roast
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of hot pepper flakes
1 quart of home canned tomatoes (or a can of crushed tomatoes)
a handful of chopped parsley

Brown the beef on all sides in a large frying pan.

Then place it in a large casserole dish, or you could use a slow cooker. Then in the same frying pan that you browned the roast in saute the onion and garlic until soft and translucent.

Roast carrot Thai soup

I picked up some carrots at the farmers market this week and they were so fresh and bursting with flavour I decided to make a carrot soup.  I have made this soup (or something very similar) in the past and it always a favourite, roasting the carrots brings out their natural sweetness and really adds something to the taste of this soup.

1 bunch of carrots peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 clove of garlic sliced
2" of ginger peeled and sliced
1 hot pepper thinly sliced
1 tablespoon of cilantro chopped
2 cups of chicken stock
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
Juice of one lemon
Optional
1 cup of coconut milk or 1/3 cup of creamed coconut


Place the sliced carrots tossed in a  little olive in a shallow roasting tin

Roast at 350 for about 1/2 an hour.  While the carrots are roasting prepare the garlic, ginger and hot pepper.

Asparagus and pine nut salad

This salad was made by my friend from England Jacky, she had it a friend of hers' over there and thought it would go well with our Italian dinner.  And she was right it was the hit of the night.

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of her making it as she did not take any and I was otherwise engaged. But anyway here goes.

1 bunch of Asparagus
3/4  cup of pine nuts (she said that she thoughts walnuts or pecans would work as well)
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Container of baby arugula
Juice of one lemon.