Quinces have a delicate, distinctive tart-sweet smell and taste. I came across them at the market in Amersfoort, and had to try this stewed pear pie.

One euro per kilo!

Two crates of quinces: odd-looking, with a little fuzz covering their yellow exterior, I suspect that the man at the fruit stall didn’t expect much profit from them. When I asked about them, he said he expected them to be bought by Turkish people, and that when he had entered his storage that morning, he was surprised to find the whole room smelled of them – like sweets. So I took home two kilos of my treasured find, without a plan, and not really sure that it would be at all easy to prepare them.

Stewing the first batch of quinces with cardamom pods and cinnamon

Cook just like stewed pears

As I had a good quantity, I stewed about half of them with cardamom pods and cinnamon, and we had those as a dessert with a plain chocolate topping. A week later, the other half went into a stew and into this tart. The hardest part is the cutting and peeling!

Prepare the pastry case

Put the margarine, salt and a third of the flour into a mixing bowl and cream together with a fork. Stir in the remaining flour, work it into flakes with the fork, then knead on a floured surface until it becomes smooth. Put aside about a third of it for the decorative leaves on top. Roll out the dough, using a piece of waxed paper on top; roll into a large circle that fits your flan tin. Turn the whole upside down using the rolling pin. Line the pie plate, cut off edges that stick over the rim. Brush with egg white – this is the secret anti-soggy-bottom ingredient – and put in the fridge.

Stew the quince pears

Remove the fuzzy bits from the pears. Quince pears are very hard, so it works best if you cut them in fours, then peel and core them. Halve the quarters, then put them in a pan with lots of water. You can add the peel as well, it seems this adds extra flavor. Bring to the boil, then stew the quince pieces on low heat for about 20 minutes. The pieces should now be soft, but you should not let them fall apart.
Drain and leave to cool.

Prepare for assembly

While the pears are stewing, roll out the other piece of dough and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter – I used a leaf shaped one – these go into the fridge as well if space permits.
Make a dark crumble dough from the rest of the flour, butter, egg and the cocoa.

When the stewed pears are drained and cooled (lukewarm is enough), toss the pieces in a bowl with a mixture of the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and cardamom. Add the filling to the pastry case. Top this with the dark crumble, and arrange the cut out shapes on top of that. Carefully brush the shapes with the remaining egg white.

Baking

Pre-heat the oven. Bake the tart at 180°C for about 50 to 60 minutes. Leave to cool 10 minutes in its flan form, then remove the form by gently pushing it down over a tin. Leave to cool completely before cutting.