Thermomix Quince Paste

Quince paste is such a wonderful little accompaniment to cheese, and when somebody gives you a dozen quinces, it is just the thing to cook, especially if you have a Thermomix.

Quince paste used to be such a chore and fraught with dangers as the hot sticky mixture spits up while you stir to stop it sticking to the base of the pan.

In Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish's latest cookbook "MoVida Rustica" there is a story about Frank's father making a membrillo machine with an industrial mixer and a gas jet. Well, the Thermomix is just like Frank's father's machine, being able to mix and cook at the same time.

The recipe in "Movida Rustica" does not use the core and peel, which is how I learned to cook it from Maggie Beer's "Maggie's Farm". I have seen recipes for quince paste using whole quinces in the Thermomix, but I find them too gritty. This is a little more time consuming, but the pectin from the peel and core once strained helps set the paste, without the gritty bits.

Please make sure that your Thermomix is not going to run off the bench. I used silicon mats that I received from an Electrolux demonstration under each foot on the Thermomix. They acted likey anti-slip mats.

Good luck and hope that you enjoy the results.

THERMOMIX QUINCE PASTE

Ingredients

1500 g quinces
600 g water
about 800 g sugar

Method

Wash, peel and core quinces. Place peel and cores in TM Bowl and chop for 20 seconds on speed 5, using spatula to push the peel down.

Cut quince flesh into chunks and place in Varoma tray.

Add water to the TM bowl and position Varoma and cook for 25 minutes at Varoma Temperature on speed 1.

Remove the Varoma tray and leave aside. Strain the peel and core mixture and collect the liquid in a separate bowl. Dispose of the pulp, clean the TM bowl and weigh in the liquid and pieces of quince into the TM bowl. Blend for 10 seconds on speed 5.

Add about three-quarters of the weight of pulp in sugar to the TM bowl. Mix for 15 seconds on speed 5.

Cook for 50 minutes at Varoma temperature on Speed 5 with the MC out and a Chux or similar over the opening and the steamer basket placed on top to reduce splatter.

NOTE that I placed silicon mats under the feet of the TMX to prevent it moving on the bench. Another alternative if you are not watching all the time is to place the whole machine into an empty kitchen sink to prevent it wandering off the bench.

Once cooked allow it to cool slightly (about 5 minutes) and pour into a tray greased with olive oil. Allow the tray to cool before covering and storing in the fridge.

Once set, it can be cut into pieces and wrapped in baking or greaseproof paper and then plastic wrap or foil.

Thermomix Coeur à la crème – Crémet d’Angers

Once I had made junket the next simple step was to make fromage frais by gently cutting the junket into chunks and allowing it to drain through muslin.




In 1996 I was fortunate to be at a class at Sunnybrae Restaurant given by Richard Thomas on cheese. Richard put on an amazing array of cheeses to try and demonstrated making fresh curd cheeses. At that time he was at Yarra Valley Dairies and had created the now popular Persian Fetta. More recently he is down the road at De Bortoli producing butter and maturing and selling cheese.

He has held offal dinners at the grand view Hotel in Brunswick West with Alain Kerambrun over the last year and the dessert at one of those dinners was Coeur à la crème.

The idea was to make a Coeur à la crème as I had seen Gabriel Gaté do on Taste of the Tour. It is a traditional dish from his native region, but not in those cookbooks of his that I own, so a bit of searching. There was an article and recipe in Australian Gourmet Traveller, and the reference to Elizabeth David’s book, “French Provincial Cooking” led me to why I had been having troubles sourcing a recipe in my French books. The dessert is often referred to as crémet d’Angers.

I found a recipe in Jane Grigson’s “Good Things” where she buys into the pasteurised milk for cheese debate... “And it’s no good making your own in a muslin drip bag, from our pasteurised milk; the result is rubbery. If you can buy unpasteurised milk, it’s another matter.” Grigson goes on to say that the white ceramic hearts used to make the dessert can be purchased from Elizabeth David’s shop and make a good summer birthday present.



Coeur à la crème

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
Pinch of cream of tartar
90 g caster sugar
300 ml whipping cream
200g fromage frais
200g strawberries
1 Tbsp kirsch

Method:
Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in a very clean TM bowl fitted with the butterfly. Beat for 3 minutes at 50°C on speed 4 until stiff. Remove to a bowl and set aside. Remove the butterfly.

Place the sugar into the TM bowl and grind for 30 seconds on speed 9. Scrape down the sides after 10 seconds. Replace the butterfly and add the cream. Whip for 40 seconds on speed 3.

Add the fromage frais and mix for 10 seconds on speed 3. Finally add the whipped egg whites and mix again for 20 seconds on speed 3.

Line the moulds with muslin or similar (new pieces of Chux) and fill with the cheese mixture, smoothing out the top. Leave on a tray overnight in the fridge to drain.

To make the sauce, place the strawberries and kirsch into the TM bowl and blend for 30 seconds on speed 9.

To serve, unmould the cheeses onto plates and surround with the strawberry sauce and offer more cream and sugar.

Gorgonzola Flan

This is another recipe from "A Tutto Vapore" that results in a luscious starter


Gorgonzola Flan


Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 drop of lemon juice
130 g. milk
90 g of gorgonzola or soft blue cheese in pieces,
40 grams of flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
butter to grease flan mould
500 grams of water

Preparation:

Insert butterfly over blades. Separate the eggs and put whites into the TM bowl with a drop of lemon juice and whip for approximately 2 minutes on speed 3 and 1/2 until they mount. Transfer to a bowl and leave aside.

Remove the butterfly from the TM bowl. Put in the milk, cheese, flour and salt and cook 3 minutes & 30 seconds at 100°C on speed 2 and 1/2. Leave to cool in the TM bowl until the temperature indicator reaches 50°C. Stir from time to time. Add the yolks and mix 30 seconds on speed 4.

Add the mixture in the TM bowl to the mounted egg whites and mix gently with spatula. Put the mixture into 4 moulds that have been buttered and floured. Place in the container of Varoma. Clean the TM bowl. Pour water into the TM bowl; position the Varoma with moulds cook 18 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1.

Unmould the flan with caution and serve immediately

Originally posted here in the Thermomix Forum