Cheese & Smoked Paprika Scones
Photo © Anne-Marie Minhall
A Saturday job with benefits.
Got lucky whilst a student & found myself some weekend work in a posh-ish café, (extra days during the summer holidays), it was not only a tidy little earner but you got fed as well.
It was a compact establishment with all the prep going on upstairs & the customers being served downstairs.
I cleared & cleaned tables, took the detritus to the floor above but also served the punters. To this day, my respect towards any person working in the catering or hospitality business never waivers. The rudeness of some people in eating establishments can be unbelievable. Working in The Peppermill as a teenager taught me valuable lessons about dealing with folk. Most were polite, kind with their tips & yet some ..
Some were abhorrent. No 'please' no 'thank you' but plenty of 'I want that' or 'I don't want that.' This was the place where I believe I developed my withering look to the ill-mannered & discourteous of society. It continues to serve me well.
On offer for your lunch would be jacket spuds filled with whatever took your fancy; butter, cheese, baked beans etc .. ham or beef baguettes perhaps accompanied by 5 or 6 freshly made salads. There'd be:
Your standard green salad; lettuce, toms etc .. but also
Chicken Caesar
Broad beans in vinaigrette
Pasta (various leftovers) with sundried toms & rocket
Sweetcorn with tuna, red onions & cucumber
The ubiquitous, yet delicious, potato salad with chives for an oniony bite
For a sweet treat ..
Home made Brownies
Ditto Flapjacks
Ditto Bakewell Jam Squares
Ditto Tiffin
Scones
But I would spurn all of the above for my breakfast choice of repast once I got to work:
A warm homemade cheese scone with a mountain of butter
A glass of Iced Camp Coffee
This recipe seems to work & should leave you with 3-5 gems & I've added some Smoked Paprika. The scones don't keep well so they pretty much have to be eaten within 2 days or freeze them:
Oven set at 200C/400F/Gas 6
Grease a baking tray with butter (not much, just to coat)
150g self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp smoked paprika
1tsp smoked salt
20g butter
90g cheese (any that will withstand a grating, Cheddar is the King)
90ml milk (or combine half the milk with buttermilk or yoghurt)
All your dry bits & pieces, bar the cheese, sifted into a bowl & stirred
Add the butter & treat the mix as you would a crumble topping & employ your fingertips to bring everything together
Pop the cheese in but leave some to top your scones with pre-baking
Add the milk/yoghurt/buttermilk a bit at a time and get a spatula in there
Your dough goes out onto a flour-dusted worktop where you knead it very gently for a few minutes, no more, it's a diva
The satisfying bit
*C U T T E R S*
Shape the dough & make as many or as few as takes your fancy
Into the baking tray
A lick of the leftover milk tincture plus the last of the grated cheese on top
Cook for 15 minutes but keep an eye
Cool on a rack
Get the butter out
Slice & slather a scone
At the end of 8 hours working in The Peppermill, there would be a tenner in your hand, sometimes more. You then headed away to meet chums in the local tavern feeling as rich as royalty.
AMM
