Pineapple Coconut Scones

Mr P. loves his carbs!  Even though his waistline does not.  We have been on a low-carb eating plan for a couple of years now, and we have both lost some of the avoir dupois from our waists.  Luckily for me, I am not a huge fan of breads or pasta so I didn't mind cutting down on the carby stuff.  Poor Mr P. though ...  Carbs are his bread and butter - literally :=)  (Or should that be metaphorically?)  If you were a baker, for instance ...

I'm always on the lookout for interesting scone recipes since I have been part of Tandy's annual scone blog-fest on her blog Lavender and Lime.  I can't remember how I came upon this particular scone recipe.  It's from a blog called Amy's Healthy Baking; she uses all sorts of low-fat, dairy-free, gluten-free ingredients.  I did not go down that route :=)  (Nor did Dino the baby dinosaur - hehehe).  

Dino watching over the (remaining) scones :=)

ingredients:

180g./6.5 oz./1.5 cups wholemeal flour - I used half wholemeal and half plain, but use whatever you have

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

28g./1 oz. butter, cold and diced

120g./4.2 oz. plain Greek yoghurt

3 Tbs/45 mL pure maple syrup

55 mL/3 Tbs + 2 tsp milk - use your fave; I used regular cow's milk  see Notes

 1/2 tsp coconut extract (or use extra vanilla if you'd rather)

1/2-1 tsp vanilla extract

70g./2.5 oz. diced or crushed (tinned) pineapple, well-drained and chopped into (very) small pieces  see Notes

12g./2.5 Tbs/0.5 oz shredded, unsweetened coconut

Method:

On goes your oven to heat at 220C/425F

Grab a baking tray and baking paper, and line the tray

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl

Use a pastry cutter (really useful) or a fork or your fingers to combine the butter into the flour, till you have fine crumbs

Then you will stir in the yoghurt, maple syrup, the 3 Tbs of milk, and the 2 extracts

And gently fold in the pineapple and shredded coconut

Pat the dough (tenderly) into a rough round (in the mixing bowl), and then place it onto the baking tray  (mine was quite a wet dough)

Then shape it into a 2cm/0.75 inch high mound on the tray, and brush with the extra 2 tsp of milk

With a sharp knife, cut the mound into 8 triangles (leaving them closely packed on the tray) 

Bake for 18-21 minutes till lightly golden on top

Leave 'em sit on the tray for a few minutes to cool, then place on a wire rack

Serve warm, with lots of butter!

Notes:

NB. I am using 15 mL tablespoons in this recipe (= 0.5 oz.)

Use whatever milk you fancy, tho' I think a full fat milk is best

Divide the milk into the Tbs and the tsp amounts

The recipe says to drain the (tinned) pineapple well; but you could get away with a light pressing thru a sieve, I think :=)

ingredients gathered

cut the butter into the flour mixture

stir in the yoghurt etc

and fold in the pineapple and coconut

a kinda (moist) loose dough! Pat it onto the tray, and cut 8 triangles

golden and warm and delicious

see the pineapple peeking out?

Mr P. about to hoe in - with a wee bit of butter

Dino the dinosaur keeping an eye on the rest!

Oh, and did I mention it's my birthday?  Yep, Mr P. and I are on a short break, doing a bit of an art gallery tour.  We headed west and south to Armidale, where the nightly temperature is minus 2!!  My Queenslander bones are a wee bit frozen :=)  Then heading back to the coast to check out another gallery, then home!

c. Sherry M.

Roasted Onions With Blue Cheese And Walnuts

I love onions! Give 'em to me roasted, sautéed, fried or turned into beautifully battered rings!  Any way you please.  I am a huge fan of the allium family in all its guises, really.  I just don't get to cook with leeks as Mr P. doesn't eat them.  Even though it took about 30 years before he told me this!  Always something new to learn about a spouse, I guess.  

Speaking of onions, when our French nephew was small, we bought a children's book about onions (yes, onions!) to read to him on his visits here.  Ever since, Mr P. and I have quoted lines from it to each other, the most enduring being: "Où sont mes oignons?"  Yes, Jean-Claude the French onion seller from Dieppe had lost his onions!  He takes the ferry across the English Channel to sell them but somehow they vanish.  Only to be found again when the English cat Quizz was found to be sleeping on a bed of onions!  Pourquoi?  Who knows, my friends? :=)      

This recipe is from Danielle Alvarez's Recipes for a lifetime of Beautiful Cooking.  She is a Sydney-based chef and cookbook author (co-author of this book is Libby Travers).  She uses blue cheese and walnuts here, but as Mr P. does not like blue cheese (he says it tastes like ants!) I used fetta in its place (and pecans 'cos I had them in the pantry). 

good enough to eat :=)

Serves 4:

ingredients:

4 small red onions

2 Tbs EV olive oil

1 Tbs honey

1 Tbs white or red wine vinegar

60g/2.25 oz. blue cheese (or fetta!)    see Notes

80 mL/2.7 oz. single (pure) cream

sea salt flakes

For the garnish:

freshly-ground black pepper, amount of your choosing

40g./1.4 oz. walnuts or pecans, toasted and roughly chopped

1 Tbs chives, chopped (or use your fave herb)

Method:

On goes your oven to 180C/350F to heat up

Slice your onions in half from root to tip, and peel 'em

Line the baking tray with baking paper, then coat the paper with the EV olive oil

Place the onion halves cut-side down onto the lined tray

Weigh them down with another baking tray, and bake for 30 minutes

Then take out the tray, flip the onions over, and bake again (sans the other tray) for 20 minutes

When finished baking, leave them to cool for a few minutes

Cut off the root ends, and separate the onion layers

Now drizzle with the honey and the vinegar, sprinkle on the salt, and back into the oven for 8-10 minutes till beautifully browned

Then take the tray out of the oven, whack up the heat to 210C/410F

The blue cheese or fetta gets crumbled over the onions, and then you are going to pour over the cream

And back into the oven for 7 minutes, then to be finished off with a fabulous amount of ground black pepper

Sprinkle with the chopped nuts and chives, and eat!

(I served these with bought-in chicken skewers)

Notes:

I used a delicious marinated Greek fetta in this dish!  Tho' you could use any type of fetta you fancy

Danielle suggests frying the onions first in an oven-proof pan, then putting the whole pan into the oven, so feel free ...

 

ingredients gathered

halved, peeled and ready to bake at 180C

glistening and glorious

on go the cheese and cream

throw on the chives and nuts

succulent :=) and served with chicken skewers

c. Sherry M.

oh yes indeed! Where are my onions? :)

Raspberry Vinegar

I love raspberries and most other berries, maybe not so much with the blueberries, but blackberries are my very fave.  So yes, feel free to use your fave berry here; I just was not able to get blackberries when I made this.

I've told my blackberry tale previously; how my sister and I would go hunting for wild blackberries to sell to the local jam factory.  Still amazed that our parents let two little girls go into the bush on their own!  And fairly amazed that the local jam factory accepted any old buckets of berries that the local children had picked.  So if you have ever lived in Victoria and eaten Monbulk jam, just be aware that the berries were wild and free before being hunted down :=)

that's me in the middle!

My sister and I weren't much older than this when we went a-blackberry hunting!  Look at those splendid haircuts!  This was at the front of our grandparents' house up in the hills.  Yep, we were hillbillies :=)

Makes about 700mL/24 oz:

ingredients:

500mL/17 oz white wine vinegar

80g.-120g./3- 4 ounces caster sugar

375g./13 oz berries of your choice - I used raspberries  see Notes

Method:

Pour the vinegar into a medium saucepan, stir in the sugar and bring this just to a gentle boil, then immediately turn to a low heat

Let it simmer gently for a few minutes, cool for about 5 minutes, then pour it over the raspberries, which you have already placed in a large jar (which has a lid)

Give the mixture a good stir with a wooden spoon, seal the jar with the lid, and let it sit for up to 1 week (I let it sit and ruminate for 6 days)

Then grab yourself a colander that you have lined with muslin or a super-clean Chux; place the colander over a large bowl, tip in the berry mixture and allow the fruity liquid to drip thru for an hour or 2 - if you squeeze it out, the vinegar will become cloudy, but if that doesn't worry you, go ahead and squeeze, my dears!

Then pour into jars or bottles with lids, seal and store in the fridge for up to 6 months, tho to be honest I have kept it for longer!

Notes:

You can even use frozen berries in a pinch; just let them thaw out on a baking-paper-lined tray first

If you want to make a smaller amount, just use 350mL of vinegar, 250g. of fruit and 80g. caster sugar

And yes I did get a wee bit impatient towards the end of the dripping thru muslin, and gave the fruit a good squeeze

This is great in salad dressings, or even as a refreshing drink with sparkling water (tho if you use the lesser amount of sugar, it won't be as palatable)

(3) ingredients gathered

stir the sugar into the vinegar and bring to the boil - just!

pour the hot liquid over the berries

let it do its thing for up to a week!

and let it drip thru the muslin for an hour or so

You caught me out! I pushed it thru with a spoon at the end

you end up with several bottles of delicious raspberry vinegar

c. Sherry M.

In My Kitchen - June 2024

June!  I like it.  It's my birthday month, and my best (oldest) friend's birthday, and a few others!  And it's the Winter Solstice.  Winter makes me happy.  Mr P. and I are heading away for a few days for my birthday on a bit of an art gallery tour: 4 of them to be precise.  Mm, and maybe I'll add a small piece to my collection (don't tell Mr P.)  hehehe ...

May has been super busy, so I'm hoping for a quieter month in June.  I can't really see it happening though.  Historical Society meetings, cooking, blogging, writing ...  Great to be busy and useful in one's retirement.  Just a shame my osteoporosis-ridden spine doesn't agree with all the activity!    

Hoping to see lots of you here with your monthly shenanigans, my virtual friends!  Please feel free to join in, and share the goodies in your kitchen and garden and life.  Thanks to all the lovely stalwarts who have shared this journey for so long with me/us!  You know who you are - Tandy, Mae, Johanna and so on.  Thanks to all the 'so-ons' too!!  Let's go! 

  

In My Kitchen:

Extra virgin olive oil 

Did you know there is/will be an olive oil shortage this year?  I am stocking up now!  We don't use a lot of it anymore, but I don't want to run out.  I can't really see my kitchen functioning without EV olive oil!

a beautiful bowl and organic lemons from our potter friend Brooke
who is currently climbing all the Munroes in Scotland

a winter treat! I love chocolate bombs in my coffee!

a gorgeous tea towel from a local maker

and I bought (online) the cutest little Japanese tumbler from Yamaguchi, Japan

chocolate-covered Florentines and a non-alcoholic spritz
from our local providore Mumbleberry in our local village

I made Chelsea Buns with lots of chocolate!

I bought beautiful handwoven tea towels from a Brisbane weaver

and I bought this; I don't think we've been able to buy this here till recently

a matcha bowl snuck into my kitchen, along with some extra drinking chocolate

honey from the apiarist/neighbour down the street; some bush dukkah and EVoo!

and the curveball - a graffiti bird made by our mate Starr (Fine Art) gallery

c. Sherry M.

Be a part of our friendly IMK community by adding your post here too - everybody welcome!  We'd love to have you visit.  Tell us about your kitchen (and kitchen garden) happenings over the past month.  Dishes you've cooked, preserves you've made, herbs and veg. in your garden, kitchen gadgets, and goings-on.  And one curveball is welcome - whatever you fancy; no need to be kitchen-related.  

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