Wearin’ O’ the Green! I was so excited to find my first Ranunculus this morning!
My dear Mother was in love with “the Irish”. I can’t say what particular traits she had in her mind, but she always spoke of her love of the people of Irish descent. I think it may have been their effervescence – what she perceived to be their perennially jolly attitude. One thing about my Mom – she saw the good in everyone. When I first introduced her to George, and she made him a delicious leg of lamb dinner (that’s why he married me), she couldn’t have been happier.
While I have been thinking of making Irish Soda Bread and all manner of Guinness Stout recipes for at least a week, I decided I wanted to try something else. I really wanted to make a potato-caraway scone, but not like a Scottish Potato scone, which are more like a crumpet. I headed out to Whole Foods early this morning, having left my potatoes at Kings yesterday by mistake (?), in search of white currants – none! When I couldn’t get these, I headed for their cheese department. Only Irish Cheddar and the Blarney Castle – which is most like a soft Gouda. I picked up a few things and headed out to pick up my 6 pack of Guinness Stout for my stew for later. (I’m not a fan of Corned Beef and Cabbage). Luckily, I stumbled upon a few additional Irish cheeses there and tried a delicious Whiskey Cheddar! Yum.
Anyway, here is my new scone – I associate Caraway with Irish food – I don’t know even if this is accurate. This could really be considered a biscuit as the texture is closer. I added the dry apricots instead of raisins – I really wanted the more traditional currants – but oh well. I love the apricot/cheese/herbs combination anyway – as you may know from my Fontina Chive Scones with Pancetta and Apricot Jam. Here, I wanted to try a little bit of Rye and Potato flour, since I didn’t have any cooked potatoes in time.
CARRAWAY, BLARNEY CASTLE, APRICOT AND HERB SCONES –
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tblsp potato flour (not starch),
2 tblsp Rye flour,
1 tblsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt,
1 tblsp muscavado sugar
1 generous tblsp caraway seeds
3/4 cup fresh Italian Parsley leaves,
1/4 cup fresh chives, rough chop
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
7 tblsp unsalted Irish butter, cold, cut into cubes
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1/3 cup low fat plain greek yogurt
3/4 cups grated Blarney Castle cheese (or other mild Irish Cheese)
3/4 cups dried apricots diced
Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
In bowl of food processor, whir together the flours, baking powder, salt, caraway seed, black pepper until evenly distributed. Add the herbs and pulse until these are distributed. Add the butter and pulse 8-9 times or until the butter resembles small peas. Dump the dry ingredients into a low wide bowl.
In a large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and yogurt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour 3/4 of the wet ingredients into center. Working gently with a dough scraper, pull the dry ingredients into the wet. Add more of the wet ingredients if you need to. The dough should hold together but not be wet. When the dough begins to come together, add the chopped apricots and the grated cheese. Knead together with your hands. On a lightly floured board, pat or roll out into a 1 1/4″ rectangle.
Cut out with a 3″ round and place onto prepared pan, re-rolling scraps, gently. Brush with heavy cream or egg wash. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown, puffed and crunchy. Serve with honey for tea or sweet Irish butter with your Guinness stew. Enjoy!
My new scone tester is Angelo – he loved them!
I even rolled up the scraps and put this back into the oven! Looks like a dinner roll 🙂