This is a nice winter recipe that will warm you through on one of those ‘can’t feel my toes, but can see my breath’ days. Really, it’s just cheese scones turned up to 11, with cayenne pepper adding a constant warmth throughout, and the red chilli ‘bombs’ keeping you on your toes. The addition of spring onions is a classic Yorkshire allotment tradition. It not only makes it look good, but is also the acceptable face of salad. It also goes splendidly with this simple roasted pepper soup. I pop the soup in a flask, wrap the cakes in foil and CamelBak it into the hills for posh food points on winter rides. ‘Hey there, how is your frozen PowerBar going down? Wanna hot cake?’.
Soup Ingredients:
- 500g fresh tomatoes
- 2 red peppers
- 1 large onion
- A few cloves of garlic
- 2 anchovies (optional)
- 500ml chicken or veg stock
- A pinch of smoked paprika, salt and pepper
Hot Cake Ingredients for ~4 large scones:
- 225g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
- Pinch of salt and cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 50g chilled butter
- 100g grated mature Cheddar, 100g grated Red Leicester
- A bunch of spring onions
- One finely diced and deseeded red chilli
- 90–100ml milk, plus a little extra for glazing
Soup Method:
1. Halve the tomatoes and peppers (remove pepper seeds).
2. Slosh a little olive oil over them, add salt and pepper and pop in a really hot oven until the peppers blister and the tomatoes start to mush up.
3. Meanwhile, cook the chopped onion and garlic very gently in a saucepan with a little olive oil, until soft, but not fried.
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4. Add the roasted tomatoes and peppers to the pan, with the stock, anchovies and smoked paprika. Simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Allow to cool, AND THEN* pop in a blender until it is all chopped up, but not baby food smooth.
6. Garnish with something green, such as basil.
Hot Cake Method:
1. Mix cayenne, salt, baking powder and flour in a bowl.
2. Grate in the chilled butter and combine with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs.
3. Add 3/4 of both cheeses, the chopped spring onion, and chopped chilli pepper. Mix that lot up.
4. Add the milk and mix until it’s a bit like a pizza dough.
5. Roll out onto a floured surface. You are aiming for a thickness of 2cm, then brush with milk.
6. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, and pat it down.
7. Make scone shapes. Singlespeeders can use a beer glass as a cookie cutter. Geared folk with dropper posts and too many handlebar accessory brackets can go to their kitchen cupboard full of superfluous clutter, reach past the spiralizer and sweetcorn handles… and use an actual cookie cutter. Pop them on a lubed baking tray.
8. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown, at about 180°C. Cook with your eyes, rather than your watch. Don’t trust numbers, spreadsheets are liars, believe what you see.
9. Allow to cool a little, then slice in half and add a knob of good butter.
*Blending hot liquids causes lots of heat to escape very quickly, and your hot soup will shoot for the stars. It’s pretty dangerous. If you want an introduction to tomato-based rocket science, or facial burns and a red kitchen ceiling… go for it.
