#189 quince and dolcelatte salad

from plenty

you know when you have a recipe you’d like to make, but it is tucked away for later, indefinitely, because who knows how on earth you will acquire the main ingredient? this is absolutely one of those for me. while quinces may be popular in europe, i have never seen one in a farmer’s market or grocery store here in the u.s. ever. imagine my surprise when i came to visit my family and they had a bag of quinces waiting for me, picked from their friends own quince tree! these were the very last of the season, so unfortunately i can only get one recipe in this year, but next year i’m going to expect a shipment.

quince resembles a hard pear, and in this preparation they are cooked for 2+ hours in a sugar syrup flavored with bay leave, peppercorn, lemon juice and orange peel. interestingly, the white flesh of the quince turns pink, and that’s how you know it's done. the finished texture is delicate and soft. the cooled pieces of quince are placed on an elegant salad of bitter greens including mizuna, raddicho and watercress, all of which i found at a japanese market. then the salad is dotted with creamy doclelatte cheese (called sweet gorgonzola here) and buttered pistachios. the sugar syrup is also part of the dressing, along with olive oil, apple cider vinegar and mustard. this is a great fancy little salad, and less work than it sounds. now just go find all those ingredients.