Tomato Butter And Tattie Scones

Tomato butter, you say?  But don't you dislike tomatoes, you ask?  Well, yes and no.  I can bring myself to eat some if they are very firm, no squish at all.  And I can manage them in a stew or soup when necessary.  But on the whole, nooooo ...

On the other hand, I love potatoes in any form, and these Scottish potato scones (aka Irish potato farls) were a delightful surprise.  The scone recipe is from Recipes from the Orkney Islands edited by Eileen Wolfe, and also from the Westray Heritage Centre Cookery Book Traditional and Favourite Recipes.  The first book calls for butter, while the second uses margarine.  You know which I used.

(This colourful and tasty butter recipe is from apples & elderflowers by Julia Matusik.  The tattie scones recipe is authored by B. Sutherland.)

Edit: March 2025:

I've made this again, while waiting for Cyclone Alfred to drop by.  I reckon you need to add some grinds of black pepper and dried herbs to the dough, before adding the flour.  And make sure the dough is rolled/patted out very thinly indeed!  Throw in some chilli flakes if you're feeling daring!

Makes 2 jars x 200 mL/6.8 oz

ingredients:

Tomato butter:

400g./14 oz cherry tomatoes

1 Tbs Ev olive oil

1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

3-4 grinds black pepper

250g./9 oz butter, at room temp. and cubed

1 Tbs thyme leaves 

Thyme

Tattie scones:

225g./8 oz cooked, and cooled potatoes  (as in - boil 'em till tender)

15g./½ oz butter, melted

1/2 tsp sea salt

half a dozen grinds of black pepper

some dried herbs - like chives or parsley - maybe half a teaspoon of each

And maybe a few dashes of chilli flakes if you fancy

50g./2 oz plain flour

Method:

For the tomato butter:

Whack on your oven to 180C/360F to heat up

The tomatoes go into a baking dish, and get tossed (gently) with the olive oil, salt and pepper

Let 'em roast for 15-20 minutes till soft and collapsed, then you leave them to cool right down

When cool, they go into a food processor, and you give them a few whizzes till finely chopped

And in go the butter and thyme, and you blitz again till nicely mixed together - Julia says till emulsified, which will take 3-4 minutes

Store in glass jars in the fridge for a month, or the freezer for 3 months

For the tattie scones:

Put the mashed potatoes into a medium bowl

Melt the butter, add it along with the salt to the mash and give it a really good mixing

Then mix in the black pepper, herbs and chilli flakes if using

Then you add the flour gradually, mixing in well, till you have a happy dough

Pat it out onto your work surface, roll out very thinly, prick it all over, and cut into triangles  (or cut into triangles, then prick it!)

Then cook on a hot griddle plate/grill pan for 3 minutes per side (or till brown)

Delicious with the tomato butter!

Notes:

I wonder if using half plain and half self-raising flour might be a good idea?  I am going to give it a try, 'cos they end up very flat

I used frozen mashed potato made with butter (the label says)

I cut the dough into 10 pieces but next time I might go with only 8

The recipes say to cook the dough on a girdle, which is a grill pan/griddle pan/griddle plate - whatever you like to call it!

gather your ingredients

throw the tomatoes into your baking dish

and bake till squishy and collapsed

add everything to the food processor

whizz away till smooth

then into jars and into the fridge

get your tattie scones ingredients together

pat out the dough on your work surface

get Mr P. to prick it with a fork

and let him do the cooking on the grill pan/girdle pan

ready to slather on the butter

I think that's a piece of fish to the side :=)

c. Sherry M.