nzFoodgeek

Scones are the ultimate fast food. You just mix them together and put into the oven. And as the weather gets colder, the more I hanked after a hot, buttery scone. This is the best, and the easiest cheese scone recipe I know.

The recipe comes from a cafe in Wellington – Ministry of Food. It’s close to our Parliament buildings and I got addicted to these scones when I was working near by. Thanks to Cuisine for publishing it.

Though this is a quick and easy recipe there is a trick to a great scone. So here are here are my tips, collected from my mum and many friends over the years.

Tips for scones

1 Heat the oven – it must be hot
2. Preheat the tray – put it in when you turn the oven on.
3. Add all the milk at once – it should be a wet rather than a try mixture
4. Mix quickly by making slicing actions with a knife, just enough to bind together. Don’t over mix.
5. Touch as little as possible and get it into the oven asap after mixing the milk in.

Cheese Scones

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
2 cups grated tasty cheese
1 cup full-cream milk

Preheat oven to 220º C. Put tray in to heat.
Sift flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cayenne pepper into a bowl. Mix in cheese. Make a well in the centre.

Check you have a clear bench with flour on it, the oven is fully heated. You want the scones to go into the oven as soon as possible.

Add the milk, mix quickly with a knife. Turn out onto a floured bench and quickly shape into a 3 cm thick rectangle. Cut into 8 and put onto your floured, hot tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes. You’ll smell them as they get ready.

Delicious! If you don’t eat them all they freeze well. To reheat put them into an oven for about 5 minutes.

What do brown rice and cardboard have in common? A lot, or so I thought until I tried this rice salad. I’m now a brown rice convert.

Nutty and full of body, the brown rice in this salad is a flavourful star-ingredient rather than just the bland, chorus-line filler of most rice salads.

It’s a bit of a fiddly recipe with several steps, but you can make the dressing, cook the rice, and roast and chop up the hazelnuts ahead of time. This just leaves chopping up the herbs and throwing it together at the last moment. It’s a spectacular addition to a barbecue, and teamed up with some nice sausages, a plain green salad and some good bread makes a stylish dinner.

This is the kind of recipe which justifies subscribing to Cuisine magazine – it really is the best foodie mag I have ever read. I repeat it here so I make sure I don’t lose it – ever! I reckon the key to this recipe it the proportions and technique. I suspect I will improvise over time – trying more Italian, Indian or Moroccan flavours rather than the Thai/ Asian of this recipe. I haven’t yet as I am still enamored with the recipe just as it is.

Brown Rice, Hazelnut and Herb Salad with Lime Dressing

1 cup brown rice
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 cup hazelnuts
4 spring onions, finely sliced
1 cup fresh mint leaves
1 cup Thai basil (I just use ordinary basil)
1 cup coriander
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Lime Dressing
1 tablespoon palm sugar, chopped
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Japanese or golden soy sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 kaffir lime leaves, central stem removed and finely shredded (I just zest the limes and use this instead)

Make the dressing first

Heat the palm sugar and vinegar in saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Cool and add the rest of the ingredients.

Cook the rice. I boil the brown rice in ample water for 25 minutes then drain. Let it cool 5 minutes. Put into the service bowl, add the dressing and let cool.

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Bake the hazelnuts on a tray for 12 minutes, stirring once. Place the hazelnuts in a clean tea towel and rub them to loosen the skins, blow away the loosened skins. I find I need to give some an extra hand. You won’t get them all, but try to remove as much as possible. Coarsely chop.

Just before serving, toss the rice, hazelnuts, spring oinions, mint, basil, coriander and sesame oil together.

Serves 4-6.

This coleslaw is great to have in the fridge and keeps for ages. It was gifted to me by my great friend Carey. I love going to Carey’s, you never leave hungry! She always manages to pull a little something out of the fridge for visitors.

Carey often has this salad in a container in the fridge. It gets nicer over time so it’s an easy midweek vegie. I make it in weekend and eat it throughout the week.

It doesn’t have any mayonaisse in it, so if you want a change, or there is someone who refers fuller fat coleslaw, I just add it into the portion. I never seem to have celery seeds, but have used celery salt instead, about 2-3 teaspoons and leave out the ordinary salt.

Carey’s coleslaw

Dressing

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon celery seeds

Boil together and cool. Pour over cabbage, oinion and carrot.