I approached this recipe with mixed feelings. I liked the cheesy aspect of these scones but I did have one small problem. I hate olives!!! I have only encountered olives once or twice in my life and I can't say I have ever enjoyed them. In fact they make my skin crawl!
Before I could make the scone bake, we needed to pop to the supermarket to buy the black olives. I asked the lady behind the delicatessen counter for 100 grams. I was alarmed to see how many olives went into the plastic container! I could only hope that, once they were encased in the cheesy scone, I might find them to be more palatable.
I made a start on the scone bake as soon as we arrived home. There was no time to sit down as I was keen to get cracking. I had decided that I couldn't dismiss a recipe just because I didn't like one of the ingredients; I might actually end up enjoying it!! I retrieved a bowl and a plate from the cupboards and dug out my sharpest knife. As I knew my hands were going to get messy working with the dough, I decided to cut up the oily little olives first. It took ages to work my way through them all but at least they were easy to cut. I put the small mountain of olives to one side whilst I got on with making the scone.
I required a large quantity of self-raising flour and big lump of butter. It took a while to rub the butter into the flour as it was another chilly day and my hands felt like blocks of ice. Eventually I achieved a breadcrumb consistency! Obviously I knew there would be cheese in this scone, but I hadn't been expecting quite so much. There was a spare five grams or so of cheese left over. It didn't seem worth keeping so, instead of adding extra to the scone, I scoffed it! I might as well add some more saturated fat to my flagging arteries! Now it was time to add in the dreaded chopped olives. I then stirred all of the ingredients together. I grabbed a couple of eggs and broke them into a measuring jug. Mary says to top it up to 300ml with some milk. I gave the eggy milk a quick stir and then poured it into the mixing bowl. I used a knife to mix the dough together; it is something I learnt at school but I have no idea if it is the right or wrong way to do it! As I am lazy, I decided to disobey instructions and press the scone dough directly into my traybake tin instead of rolling it out first. It worked perfectly well and also helped me avoid adding extra flour! I marked the scone into twelve squares, brushed it with a little milk and then shoved it into the hot oven. I patiently waited for fifteen minutes; the smell coming from the oven was wonderfully cheesy! After the time was up, I whipped the scone out of the oven, sprinkled it with Parmesan cheese and then popped it back to cook for a further five minutes. Once it was cooked, I felt really pleased with the look of my scone bake. It was a lovely golden brown, while the sprinkled Parmesan was a pretty finishing touch. I tried to ignore the fact that, to me, the olives resembled squashed flies!!!
I tipped the scone out onto a wire rack to cool and then re-cut it into generous slices. Neil was the first to have a taste and I can't say that he seemed overly impressed! I thought it was very cheesy, and so it should be with all the cheese it contains! I am afraid I just couldn't get past the olives. I thought they made the scone taste rather salty and I'm not much of a fan of salt. If I could have picked the olives out I think I would have thoroughly enjoyed this scone. It had a gorgeous light texture and was so rich and cheesy. I think it all comes down to a matter of personal taste. Olives, you either love them or hate them!!
Gorgeous if you like olives!!