Parsley and Lemon Soda Bread Scones with Butternut Squash Spread and Fried Quails Eggs

Butternut Squash

I know I am harping on and on about this crazy little thing called soda bread. Hopefully you are beginning to see what I see in this wonderful bread!

This recipe brings a bit of delicate indulgence to the table. Here, I have made scones, but you can easily use the recipe to make a Parsley and Lemon Soda Bread loaf. It would be sensational with some fried fish and tartar sauce on top.

Question for you.

What do you do with odd loose ends of ingredients in your fridge? So much of the time we have a surplus of left over ingredients which prove challenging when it comes to knowing what to do with them. The bin is not the right place home for them, I promise!

A lot of the time, you could actually use them to make a really fun soda bread. A few suggestions, off the top of my head. Two small carrots, 1/2 a red onion, some ham that’s on the brink of going off and needs to be used. A jar of pesto which is about to turn mouldy. A solution? Grate the carrot. Finely chop the onion and fry in a little butter until soft. Slice up the ham. Measure out the ingredients for the bread, halving the quantities if you don’t need much. Add the grated carrot, the ham and the pesto, mix the bread into a dough, shape into a round loaf, or some small rolls, or scones, and rub the sweet soft onions on top to finish off. Bake and enjoy with some soup, with some cheese melted on top, with a fried egg. Or freeze it. Perhaps not a classic combination, but it would taste good! See what I mean?!

Another great thing about soda bread- it is easy to have a bag of flour, and a tub of bicarbonate of soda in your cupboard. We all have sugar and salt. And although not every single shop has buttermilk, they most definitely have natural yoghurt. Ingredients, check!

Our local shop sells the most enormous bunches of parsley I have EVER seen. I never need it all, but I buy them because they are always really fresh, and cheap too. So What happens when you buy a massive bunch of herbs for a recipe you have decided to cook, and the recipe only calls for a chopped tablespoon of said herb? Such was my scenario when I thought of this recipe.

The parsley gets used in exactly the same way as the basil and roasted red pepper in my previous post, blended into the buttermilk before being added to the dry ingredients. This recipe carries through my familiarity with, and love for comfort food. This is a supper I would really enjoy sitting down to when the rain and wind is bashing against the windows and I am cosied up on the sofa, safe and sound and hungry! If the little quails eggs are too delicate for you, don’t hesitate to use some nice big hen or duck eggs, making the scones bigger and layering a little more of the beautiful butternut squash butter. It will be your supper, so personalise it any way you like!

Quails eggs are a little indulgent delicacy's which I just love!

For this recipe you will need:

450g of plain flour. 1 tsp each of bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar. 400-425 ml of buttermilk. large bunch of parsley. Grated zest of 1 lemon.

(If you cannot find buttermilk, use natural yoghurt instead.)

1 egg and a splash of milk whisked together to create an egg wash for the scones.

2 quails eggs. They usually come in packs of 12. 100g piece of butternut squash, cubed. 2 tablespoons of cream.

Method.

Parsley Soda Bread Dough

Firstly, make the scones. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. In a blender blitz the buttermilk, parsley and lemon and season with salt and pepper. Place the dry ingredients into a bowl, sifting the flour and bicarbonate of soda, and add 400 ml of the buttermilk and parsley mixture. Mix together with your hands or a wooden spoon, making sure not to work the mixture too much. You want the mixture to be sticky, but not too wet. Add the remaining buttermilk if necessary. Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface, and with floured hands bring the dough together . Flatten the mixture out until it is about 1 – 1.5 inches thick. Cut into little scones, whatever shape you like. I cut mine into little squares. Place onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment, and brush each scone with the egg wash. Sprinkle with a small bit of Maldon sea salt and fresh ground pepper and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. For the final 3 minutes of cooking, turn the scones upside down. When ready, cool on a wire rack.For the butternut squash spread, cook the cubed butternut squash in salted water until tender, 7-10 minutes. Drain and leave to sit for a couple of minutes to allow any excess water to evaporate. In a bowl, mash the butternut squash with the cream and season well. Place a small bit of oil or butter in a frying pan, and allow to melt. Crack the eggs into the hot frying pan, and allow to cook for a couple of minutes. The eggs are so thin, they do not need to be turned. You can place a big saucepan lid over the frying pan to trap in the heat, which will help them cook quicker. Slice a scone in half, spread the butternut squash mixture liberally, and place the fried quails eggs on top. Enjoy with a steaming cup of tea!