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Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

It’s been a while since I last posted.

During the interlude, we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, Civil Rights Day, Valentine’s Day, and Presidents Day.

I’ve graded student papers, traveled to Waco, Texas for a week of studies with my colleagues in the Executive LL.M. program in Litigation Management, completed my own final exams, prepared written materials for a continuing education course, and taught the course. And because the second trimester of my studies started on the heels of the first, I have plunged into another round of classes, while trying to keep up with my day job.

It’s been a busy few months.

Friday night, I asked Rebecca what she wanted for our Saturday breakfast. She suggested we have Lemon Poppy Seed Scones, something we had not tried before. Well, now we have, and so can you.

This is the same recipe that I regularly use when making scones, with the addition of lemon flavoring and poppy seeds. Try out the recipe, and let me know what you think in the comments.

ingredients

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1 to 2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
zest and juice of one medium lemon
1 cup heavy cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450*.

Pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to mix.  Add the butter and pulse until the butter is the size of grains of rice. Mix in the poppy seeds.

Add the lemon juice and zest. Slowly blend in the heavy cream until the mixture forms a dough.

Roll (or pat) out the dough until it is about 3/4 inch thick. Cut the scones using a biscuit cutter or knife. I use a 2-inch cutter, which typically gives me 12 scones.

Place the scones about 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Glaze the top of the scones with heavy cream. You also can sprinkle on turbinado sugar if you like.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes. You’ll be tempted to eat the scones as soon as they come out of the oven, but wait a few minutes first. The flavors intensify as the scones cool.

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Southwestern Eggs Benny with Tomatillo Sauce

It’s the holiday weekend, so it’s time to cook.

in anticipation of the weekend, I spent some time reviewing my collection of cookbooks to get some ideas. I came across a great idea for Green Chile Eggs Benny in The Essential Southwest Cookbook (available at Amazon.com https://tinyurl.com/y4r3tdeb).

My Sweetie has a sensitive stomach, so I revised the recipe to make it less spicy. It looked and tasted great.

The original recipe calls for English muffins as a base for the Eggs Benny. I decided to mix it up a bit and use sourdough biscuits instead. We also added some homemade tomatillo sauce, which brings a robust smoky flavor to the meal.

We started off our weekend with a Southwestern breakfast for dinner. Try it, you’ll like it.

Southwestern Eggs Benny with Tomatillo Sauce

  • 2 cups cooked black beans, rinsed
  • 2 cups sweet corn
  • 3 green onions, sliced (white and green parts)
  • 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
  • juice of one lime
  • kosher salt
  • freshly ground pepper
  • 1 cup Mexican crema
  • 1 roasted Hatch chile, peeled, seeded, and diced
  • zest of one lime
  • 1 teaspoon chile powder
  • 8 poached eggs
  • cotija cheese, crumbled
  • tomatillo sauce

Combine the black beans, corn, green onions, tomatoes, and lime juice in a medium saucepan. Heat the mixture over medium heat until the beans and corn are heated through. Reduce the heat to low, and keep the mixture warm. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the crema, the diced chile, lime zest, and chile powder. Season with salt and pepper.

Poach the eggs.

Split four English muffins or biscuits and set them on your serving plates. Spoon the bean and corn mixture onto each half of bread. Gently place a poached egg on each half. Spoon tomatillo sauce and crema onto each egg. Top with cotija cheese.

Learn how to make tomatillo sauce here: https://legalchow.com/tomatillo-sauce/.