Our first Zoom Meeting! Thai butternut Soup and Scones,

 Nervous but excited as today will be the first (hopefully of many) Zoom meetings with my friends.

As due to lockdown we cannot do From Spade to plate, I wonder if this may be a little alternative to see my friends and do some cooking at the same time.

First surprise:  We had  visitors from abroad, Seiko from Tokyo  and Karina from Bonn join us. Carmen, June, Julie and Consuelo joined in as well.

We made Thai butternut soup, with some cheese scones. The original recipe came from Alice, who used to do an English Tea and served fluffy home made scones with clotted cream and jam. I changed it to be savoury but still they come out fluffy and light. 

As today was not an oven day, I baked them in a pan on the stove.

Alice's Scones

Ingredients

225g plain flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1½ teaspoon salt

50g frozen butter 

1 small egg 

125ml plain yoghurt

150g crumbled feta cheese

2 spring onions, chopped, or herbs or chilli flakes (optional)

A little milk to glaze

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt through a fine sieve into a bowl.
3. With your fingers, rub in the grated frozen butter until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
4. Add the crumbled cheese and chopped spring onion.
5. Whisk the egg into the yoghurt with a fork. Make a well in the flour mixture, add the liquid and stir again with a fork, making a soft dough.
6. Gather the dough in well-floured hands and knead very lightly. On a floured surface, press out the dough with a rolling pin to not less than 1.25cm thick.
7. Using a 5cm glass or ring cutter, firmly cut out the scones. Gather up the scraps, kneading them together to more scones. 
8. Transfer the scones to a well greased baking sheet. With a pastry brush wipe the tops of the scones with milk mixture.
9. Cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until well-risen and golden brown.
10. Makes 6-8 scones depending on the size of cutter.

We also made some yoghurt. I normally do this using milk delivered in  returnable glass bottles so that we reduce plastic containers

How I make yoghurt 

Ingredients

2 cups  whole milk

2 tablespoons plain greek yoghurt

Method

1. In a saucepan, over low heat bring the milk to a simmer. It will take around 15-20 minutes. The freshest milk will yield you better yogurt.
2. Once it starts to bubble turn off the heat and set aside. You notice a skin has formed on your milk, that is normal.
3. Let it cool down to the blood temperature. You can test by place your finger in there and if you can’t feel the milk around your finger then it is at blood temperature.
4. Once cooled whisk in the yogurt.
5. Pour into a sterilized jar and tightly close the lid. • Line a deep bowl with a thick tea towel and place in the jar of yogurt. Wrap the jar up well in the towel and let it sit out in a warm part of your kitchen over night.
6. After this time, pop the jar in the fridge and let it get cold, roughly 2-3 hours. Once chilled your yogurt will be firm and thick in texture.
7. Before you add anything, keep a couple of spoonfuls aside for the next batch. At this point you can add sugar, sweetener, honey, fruit and vanilla.
8. Keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.