Tomorrow is not just any final, not even any ‘Italian’ final… it’s a Linguini final! It’s Italy playing England in their very own home, in their very own stadium with many of their very own supporters. It’s the football equivalent of what us Italians have always been feeling at the dinner table here in this country: outnumbered, but strong in our beliefs and our values. It’s the match of all of us, who had to witness atrocities such as cheese on tuna pasta, tinned spaghetti hoops, BBQ chicken pizza… but stayed strong and proud of our culinary tradition!
So this is our last Match time Munchie recipe, and the one where we would like reach out to all of the Linguinis out there and let them know that whatever the outcome, you are not alone!
And even if the football (and culinary choices) might sometimes divide us from the locals, this recipe will hopefully bring everyone together. It took us less than an hour to make, from weighting the ingredients to eating them all up, so this is the perfect appetiser to serve if you are running out of time.
You can serve them already filled, or present the scones with the ‘nduja and ricotta on the side for your guest to do all the work: just like scones, cream and jam are usually served at an afternoon tea.
Put aside that ‘Italian seasoning’ mix, the garlic powder and all that stuff: there’s no space for that now. For our ‘nduja and ricotta scones we will use fennel seeds. Fennel seeds are probably not one of the first aromatics that comes to mind when thinking of typical Italian seasonings, but Italians know how well this spice complements spicy pork (in fact it’s quite common to find fennel seeds in Italian sausages). So although the flavour of these scones can be enhanced by adding almost any herb and seasoning to the dough, we strongly recommend to stick to fennel seeds for this one: you won’t regret it.
Scones are overall a very easy food to make, but we strongly recommend to be careful not to overwork the dough and to use only very cold butter, possibly straight from the fridge. If you think the temperature of your dough is a tad too high, you can rest it in the fridge or freezer while you preheat your oven (if you haven’t done this before).
With the quantities below we made 14 scones using a 7cm cookie cutter to cut our pastry, after we had it rolled out to be roughly 1.5cm thick. Feel free to use a bigger cutter for chubbier scones.
Thank you for having been with us during this fantastic Euro 2020 journey. May our playing be fiery like a dollop of ‘nduja spread and the outcome be sweet as a spoonful of ricotta cheese. Forza Azzurri!
‘Nduja and Ricotta Scones
Ingredients
- 250 g Plain Flour (or 00)
- 10 g Baking Powder
- 60 g Unsalted Butter
- 1 tsp Salt
- 120 ml Milk (I used semi-skimmed milk, but any dairy or non dairy milk will do)
Optional Add-ons
- 2 tsps Fennel Seeds
- 2 tbsps Chopped Red Onions
Suggested Filling
- 150 g Fresh Ricotta
- 80 g 'Nduja
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C/350F.
- Put all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) in a food processor. Grate or chop your 60g of unsalted butter and add it to the dry ingredients. Make sure the butter is very cold. Quickly whiz to reach a sand-like texture, but be careful not to overdo it. If you don't have a food processor you can rub the cold butter into the flour until it is evenly distributed.
- Transfer the mixture into a bowl and add your herbs and spices. Give it a little stir and then start to incorporate the 120ml of milk with a spatula. When the milk is incorporated, knead it with your hands but make sure you don't overdo it: the secret to nice, fluffy pastry is to work the dough as little as possible.
- The dough is now ready to be cut into either round cookies or triangles, but make sure it is still quite cold. Rest in the freezer if necessary. The above quantities should be enough for 14 medium sized scones.
- Bake your scones onto the middle tray of your oven for 20 minutes or until puffed-up and golden. You can brush them before baking with egg wash for a glossier look.
- Once the scones have cooled down you can cut them in half and fill with a layer of ricotta and 'nduja, or serve them whole with the fillings on the side.
