Spiced Lamb Steaks with Poached Quince (for MartianIceQueen)

The combination of meat and fruit is common in Middle Eastern cuisine. If you aren't familiar with quinces, you might mistake them for hard, yellow apples. They are too tart to eat raw, but become fragrantly delicious (and a lovely shade of pink) when cooked with sugar.

Only had three reviews on Epicurious, so not too many suggestions or comments. But the three reviewers were unanimously thrilled with this & gave it highest marks. One reviewer did say that she tried it with pork tenderloin & it was delicious.

For quince and sauce
2 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 quince (about 10 oz), peeled, quartered, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

For lamb
2 (3/4-inch-thick) bone-in lamb steaks from leg (1 1/2 lb total), trimmed of excess fat
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Poach quince
Bring water, sugar, and lemon juice to a simmer in a 2- to 2 1/2-quart saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then add quince. Cut out a round of parchment or wax paper to fit just inside saucepan and cover quince directly with parchment or wax paper. Simmer, gently stirring once or twice, until quince is tender, about 35 minutes. Drain quince in a sieve set over a bowl and reserve 1/2 cup syrup for sauce.

Cook lamb (10 minutes before quince is done simmering)
Pat lamb dry. Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon in a small bowl, then sprinkle spice mixture all over lamb. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Cook lamb 4 minutes, then turn over and cook 3 minutes more for medium-rare. Transfer lamb to a cutting board and let stand 5 minutes.

Make sauce while lamb stands
Reduce heat to moderate and add reserved quince syrup to skillet, then boil, scraping up any brown bits, until liquid is reduced by almost half, about 2 minutes. Transfer sauce to a gravy boat or small bowl and stir in lemon juice and salt to taste.

To serve
Thinly slice lamb and serve with quince and sauce.