Potato Chive Scones

My Granda (grandfather) came to visit for dinner yesterday. He’s 95 years young. I say young because I can only hope that I will have his energy and enthusiasm for life at his age. I wanted to treat him so I made a big dish of mashed potatoes flavoured with fresh Irish butter, milk and chives cut from my plant by the door, not forgetting a sprinkling of salt & pepper. It was light, fluffy, soft and matched the slices of roast chicken, homemade gravy and fresh vegetables perfectly.

The only thing is I’m dreadful when it comes to portion sizes. Ask me to cook for our family and I, more often than not, am left with leftovers. Today I still had a big dish of mash sitting in the fridge and I really didn’t fancy mash a second day in a row. The kids are off school for the next two weeks for the Easter holidays and I had hungry mouths to feed. I got a knock to the door at about 9.30am and was handed 4 fresh, still warm, duck eggs. They are gorgeous with pale shells and it seemed that the only way to do them justice was to poach them.

On went the oven to 200 degrees Celcius, then I weighed out the mash.  There was approximately 500g there. Added 50ml of buttermilk, 150g of plain flour and a teaspoon of bread soda. Then I mixed it with a fork until I got a pliable dough, pressed it to an approximately 4cm thick piece and cut it into scone shapes.

Once I had transferred the scones to an oiled baking tray I popped them into the oven for 15 minutes until they were golden.  I then turned the heat in the oven off but left them in there to stay warm and poached my duck eggs.

Lunch was served. All the scones are gone, the bellies are full.  This recipe is perfect without the addition of chives for a plain potato scone mixture.  Traditionally potato scones or farls are cooked on a dry skillet or frying pan then served with butter this recipe can be cooked in the same manner but as per usual I don’t like cooking on the pan if I can help it with small people in the house.