Day 44: Poppy seed scones

In case you are in any doubt as to Dear Husband’s love of food – get this. We had a wedding to go today (hence the late post!) and the ceremony was at 1:30pm with the meal at 5 o’clock but nothing would do him that we would have to scoot down the road to my local eaterie (the infamous Harry’s of Bridgend) for a ‘wee bite’. He justified it with the fact that although he had a cooked breakfast of scrambled eggs, tea and toast at around 10 o’clock and scones at 11-ish, that would never do him until, he said, the meal which was more likely to happen at 6 o’clock so, when I thought of it that way, fair enough. However, it was now 3 o’clock and I thought how in Heavens am I going to sit down for 5-course meal in 2-3 hours after a lunch? But hey, it’s amazing what one can eat when it’s put down in front of you! To be fair, I had the truly gorgeous creamed potatoes and walled garden salad so I didn’t have a great big main course. Dear Husband had the Dexter burger which he said was really, really good. Harry’s has an excellent business model and one of their unique selling points is that they source the majority of their ingredients locally from within Inishowen peninsula of Donegal which is the most northerly part of Ireland for those of you unfamiliar to the area – a real gem of Ireland for many, many reasons. In recent years, Harry’s has also developed their own walled garden whereby they grow much of the vegetables they use themselves which is where all the ingredients came from for my salad.

So anyway, Donal Doherty (manager of Harry’s), who we know well came up after we ordered for a chat and I was telling him that I already had the inspiration for my blog tonight after relaying the story of the day’s events up until then. Poor Dear Husband said that my readers will think that he is some sort of 40-stone eating machine so, to clear that one up, no – he’s not. He has a fast metabolism, does love food though and I had his full permission that time I referred to him as a ‘human bin’ (which he is, of course!).

You should have seen the way my walled garden salad was presented to me! I really should have taken a photo. It was laid out so nicely on this lovely chopping board and it was delicious. You really can tell the difference between home-grown produce. Absolutely delicious.

So, getting back to my own endeavours in the kitchen, because we were headed to a wedding today, I made something for elevenses which were Poppy seed scones. I absolutely love scones especially if they are home-baked. My mother (tied with my Aunty Eileen) make the best scones that I know of. I always say I’m going to use their recipe but when I ask Mammy for the recipe she’s like “Aw, this amount of flour and about this much buttermilk and a wee bit of that” to the point where I can never tie down the quantities and will probably never be able to replicate her own individual recipes.

For the poppy seed scones, I sieved the flour, added the salt, bicarbonate of soda and poppy seeds before making a well in the centre. I then added the buttermilk bit by bit and brought it together by hand. Once that was done, I patted it out flat and used a 6cm cookie cutter before setting them on a baking tray. I brushed them with a wee bit of the buttermilk which was left over and into the oven they went for just under 15 minutes. I let them cool on a wire rack before serving.

The verdict…

They were absolutely delicious. I gave them 8 marks out of 10 and Dear Husband gave them the same. I normally make plain scones but the addition of the poppy seeds made such a difference. With my beloved Kerrygold butter, strawberry jam and a lovely cup of tea, these are exactly the reason for elevenses. With that in mind, they have definitely made The List and I think I will have to make them tomorrow, also! The only thing I would say is that the outer part of the scone was just the slightest bit tough so either I handled the mixture too much when I was bringing it together or I had them in the oven the slightest bit longer than I should have. Either way, I will know for next time.

The thing about home-made scones is that they taste so good and they are so simple to make that when I do make them, I wonder why I don’t make them more often. A really simple recipe and hardly any cooking time. I think scones, in general, are going to have to become a staple in our house at the weekend from now on. So there you go, I highly recommend this recipe and, in honour of the scones and the beloved Kerrygold which accompanied them, I’ll leave you with this quote which I once saw on a hotel menu by Professor Joan Gussow who, amongst many things, is an American food policy expert and gardener...

          “As for butter versus margarine. I trust cows before chemists”.

Never a truer word said…