Tomato relish scones

Photographer: Adam
makes 6 scones

Scones were the first thing I ever learnt to bake. I remember crowding over a large bowl with my older sister intently rubbing butter into flour and intermittently whinging about how sore my thumbs were. Dad stood on the sidelines prodding us along until most of the butter had been dissipated into the flour, a few large chunks where still floating around in the mix but hey for a five and a seven year old we weren’t doing too bad.

Scones are probably most similar to biscuits in the states but traditionally, as kick back from our English ancestry, are served with cream, jam and tea. You can mix it up and turn them into savoury ones or even pinwheels if you’re so inclined. Back in my university days a little café in the main library had these amazing tomato relish scones that were a must to start the day during the exam period. Sadly I don’t think they sell them anymore, so I attempted to recreate them.

I used a test recipe that we use here at Fisher and Paykel to test the ovens as the base and then had a guess at how much relish and tomatoes to add. I’m not entirely sure I succeeded, not quite enough gooey tomato for my liking but one can only try, and try again right?

INGREDIENTS


500g self-raising flour, sifted
2g salt
60g butter (cold, straight out of fridge and cubed into 1cmx1cm cubes)
350ml milk
2 Tbsp tomato relish
150g of chopped canned tomatoes
100g of grated cheese
2 tsp of chopped parsley

METHOD


1. Preheat oven on fan bake to 210°C.
2. Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Add butter.
3. Place in Food Processor and process until butter is evenly dispersed and mixture is a fine crumb (saves you the sore thumbs).
4. Add milk and pulse briefly until a dough is just formed.
5. Knead the dough lightly on a floured surface. Set aside.
6. Mix together the tomato relish and canned chopped tomatoes.
7. Roll out the dough until it is roughly 15mm thick and divide evenly into six squares.
8. Take each square and place 1 tablespoon of the tomato mix into their centre wrap the dough over it and then place onto a tray so the folded edges lie facing down.
9. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and parsley then bake in the oven for 10-20min until cooked through.
10. Serve warm with lots of butter!