This is exquisite and also very easy. The quinces are hard and take a long time to cook before you can even cut them up and stuff them, but you can bake them hours—even a day—in advance. I use very large quinces, weighing a pound each. Serve as a hot first course.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Wash the quinces and rub off the light down that covers their skin in patches. Put them on a piece of foil on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 325°F oven for 1 1/2–2 hours, until they feel soft when you press.
Step 2
For the stuffing, fry the onion in the oil until soft. Add the pine nuts and stir, turning them over, until golden. Put the raw ground meat in a bowl and add salt, pepper, cinnamon, and allspice. Mix and work well to a smooth paste with your hand. Add the fried onion and pine nuts and work them into the paste.
Step 3
When the quinces are cool enough to handle, cut them open lengthwise. Remove the cores with a pointed knife and discard them. With a pointed spoon, scoop out about a third of the pulp and mix it into the meat stuffing. Heap a quarter of this mixture into each quince half and press it down.
Step 4
Put the 4 stuffed quince halves on the baking sheet and bake at 350°F for another 1/2 hour. Serve hot.
