Feta and Red Onion Scones

I’m not sure what first put the flavour combination of feta and red onion in my mind – initially I was thinking along the lines of feta and either red onion or red peppers, but the plump red onions won when I was at the supermarket. My initial thoughts for that flavour combination were actually along the lines of muffins. Today, when I finally got round to trying to turn the flavours in my head into flavours on a plate, the idea rapidly evolved from muffins to a flat bread topped with feta and red onion to scones to a flat scone topped with feta and red onions to a crusty loaf of bread and back to muffins. I eventually settled on scones, primarily because they seemed the easiest, quickest option involving the fewest ingredients. This recipe makes about 8 scones (or more if you make them small). All the cup measurements are based on a 250 ml mug as equal to one cup. As you’ll see, I added the cheese and onion to the mixture before rubbing in the flour and I’ve given my instructions in the same format. I did this because I wanted to break up the feta as I was rubbing the fat into the mixture. However, the more obvious thing to do may have been to rub in the fat first and then to mix in the feta and onions – just do whatever feels most intuitive for you at the time.

What you need:

A large red onion

Little bit of olive oil

2 1/2 cups self-raising flour

Pinch salt

Generous sprinkling of dried oregano

Pepper

200 gram pack of feta cheese

1/3 cup soft margarine or softened butter

Milk (for brushing the tops of the scones)

What to do:

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 (180º C or 350º F) and either grease a baking sheet or line it with greaseproof paper.

2. Slice the red onion into thin slivers whilst heating the oil in a frying pan. Add the sliced onions to the pan and fry until soft and cooked.

3. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and then add the oregano and a sprinkling of pepper to the flour/salt.

4. Cut the feta into large cubes (or cuboid shapes, if you’re me) – mine were about 1 inch by 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch and then add the feta to the mixing bowl with the flour and seasonings.

5. When the onions have cooked, remove the pan from the stove and add the onions to the mixing bowl. I was too impatient to wait for them to cool down, but you can if you want to.

6. Mix everything in the bowl together thoroughly.

7. Add the margarine or butter to the bowl and rub thoroughly into the mixture – this didn’t take me long to do as the heat from the onions melted the butter and cheese and seemed to speed up the process. Draw the dough together into one mass (this may be quite crumbly).

8. Shape the dough into small, round scones or tip onto a lightly floured surface and flatten into a round about 1 inch high (I didn’t measure the diameter) and then cut the round into 8 roughly equal triangular shapes.

9. Place the scones on the greased or lined baking tray and then brush the top of each scone with a little bit of milk. Bake the scones in the middle of the pre-heated oven for about half an hour or until browned and delicious.

10. Either eat warm from the oven (if you’re impatient like me) or cool on a cooling rack before eating. Either way, I would highly recommend that you accompany your scones with generous lashings of butter.