Jewelled quince with star anise

I once saw quince described as the ‘ugliest fruit’, which struck me as singularly unjust, and one can only assume the author had never seen a bletted medlar. On the contrary, I find great charm in the down-covered, irregular curves of a quince, the raw fruit already scented with an intoxicating mix of rose and honey. But they don’t reach their true potential until cooked slowly and patiently through the colour spectrum. The heat of the oven coaxes a transformation from hard yellow to soften