Homemade Scones

Homemade Scones recipe – makes 6 good sized scones

It was a beautiful day today in Crouch End so I decided to make some homemade scones to have out on the balcony… what a great idea it was! I never realised how easy it was to make scones; you can have these beauties on the table in less than 30 minutes. Unfortunately I didn’t have any buttermilk so I used standard semi-skimmed milk instead, but they still came out great. Make sure you eat them while they’re still slightly warm!

Ingredients

• 350g self-raising flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 85g butter
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 175ml milk (buttermilk if you can get it)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg, beaten
• Jam & clotted cream to serve

Method

First heat the oven to 220 C and place a baking tray in there so that it gets nice and hot. Place the self raising flour, baking powder, salt and butter into a large bowl and mix well with your hands until the mixture looks a bit like breadcrumbs.  Now stir in sugar and mix well. Add the vanilla extract together with the milk then pour into the bowl of flour – mix together with a fork until the mixture starts to come together, then dive in and finish off with your hands. The dough should be ready once it has a soft and smooth feel to it.  

Take the dough out of the bowl and place on a clean surface, dusting the dough and surface with flour first. Roll out the dough to a depth of around 1 inch (2.5 cm) – make sure that it is no less than this, measure it if you’re not sure! Take a 5cm cutter and plunge into the dough, giving the cutter a quick dust with flour, until you have 6 scones. Glaze the top of each scone with the beaten egg and place onto your pre heated baking tray and place in the oven for 12 minutes, checking after 10 minutes.  The scones should have a light texture and are best eaten very slightly warm. Serve them either with clotted cream & jam, or butter.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be posting many more of my favourite recipes so keep a look out. If you wish to contact me, then please do so at andrewsco at gmail dot com (to stop spam).

Authentic Thai Green Curry

Thai Green Curry – Serves 2

If I have a signature dish then this is definately it. Just ask pretty much any of my friends who have been round for dinner; they’ve all had this cooked for them at some point, and there’s a running joke that it’s the only thing I can cook! I first learnt how to make this on a cooking course in Thailand (Koh Phi Phi) back in 2006 and it’s been my favourite dish to make ever since. In fact it’s probably down to this cooking course that I became interested in cooking, and in particular fuelled my fascination for international food. 

The great thing about Thai curries is that you can make them as spicy or as mild as you like – in Thailand they have them hot, and I do mean HOT! Nearly all of the ingredients used should be fairly accessible – if your struggling, you can replace the galagal with ginger and use normal basil leaves instead of the Thai sweet basil although it will give the curry a slightly different taste. If you live near a specialist oriental store then get yourself down there and see what you can find!

 

 Ingredients for the Paste

• 3 large green chillies (to taste), seeds removed & finely chopped 
• 1 tsp grated galangal (ginger is a good substitute)
• 2 tsp lemongrass, finely chopped
• 3 kaffir limeleaves, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tsp shallot, finely chopped
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 handfulls of Thai sweet basil, roughly chopped

 Ingredients for the Curry

• 2 skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
• 400ml can of coconut milk
• 1 green curry paste recipe (see above)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil (for frying)
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 handful green beans, cut in half
• 1 small tin of bamboo shoots
• 1 small handful basil leaves, for garnishing
• Red chilli flakes or finely chopped fresh red chilli to garnish (optional)

Method

Step 1
First make the paste. Take all the ingredients for the paste (except the oil) and put them into a pestle and mortar and give them a good bashing. Add the oil and continue to pound the ingredients until you have a smooth paste consistency. You can use a food processor if you like but I just love using my pestle and mortar. I usually use all of the paste in one go, but if you want to make extra, you can stick the paste into a container, cover with oil and it should last for a week or so in the fridge.

Step 2
Now for the curry itself. On a low heat, add the oil and all of the green curry paste into a pan and mix well – this will ensure that the flavour of the paste will really come out in the chicken. Add the chicken and fry on a low / medium heat until the chicken is starting to cook through.

Step 3
Give the can of coconut milk a good shake and add to the pan, along with the fish sauce and the sugar and simmer until the chicken is cooked. Just before the chicken has cooked, add in the bamboo shoots and green beans, and simmer until the green beans are cooked but still retain their ‘bite’.

Serving Suggestion
I usually serve this curry with rice, although it works just as well with noodles or some type of roti / flatbread. Garnish the curry with a few basil leaves, a wedge of lime and a sprinkle of red chilli flakes.

Note: It actually doesn’t matter if you use only red chillies as it is the basil that gives the colour, not the chilli – in fact I think a mixture gives a great colour to the dish.

Welcome!

So I thought I would start writing a blog today! I’ve read enough of them in my time so I should be able to figure out what to do… but then again only time will tell! I’m going to use the blog mainly as a record for myself; posting up recipes, photo’s and maybe even the odds story or two – you never know someone may even read this one day!   

Anyway, a little bit about me before I start. I’m originally from Yorkshire although I haven’t really spent that much time there recently. I studied up in Newcastle University for 4 years – fantastic place and would recommend it to anyone. After uni, I travelled around the world with my girlfriend which was by far the best thing I’ve ever done… absolutely amazing – I’ll definitely do it again sometime! It was definitely travelling that got me into cooking; seeing all the different flavours and ingredients people use around the world… it’s fascinating.

I now live in Crouch End in North London which is a really cool place. Loads of restaurants and a really awesome vibe around the place. The problem with having restaurants on your doorstep though is that it takes some real restraint not to spend a packet each month!

Anyway, hopefully you’ll enjoy reading what I’ve got to say, and if not, at the very least I hope you’ll find a few recipes that you like!

Cheers for reading!
Andrew