Fiona's Gubbeen Potato Farls

Our former colleague and friend Fiona created these farls featuring Gubbeen in honour of St Patrick's Day.

Nothing hits the breakfast mark the day after a celebration than a hot potato farl!

As I type, I confess to actually being a Celtic cousin. As a Scot, I grew up on the ‘tattie scone’ and my lovely, late Mum Anne made these from leftover mashed potatoes (which had been binded with equal amounts of flour, love and more butter!).

I would have used her recipe if she had ever written it down but her brilliance and knowledge was always in her head. “I don't know how much flour I use!” she always explained, “it is how the mixture feels!”.

So the recipe below is by the brilliant Henry Dimbleby & Jane Baxter from ‘The Guardian,’ many farls ago.  I added some grated Gubbeen as its savoury nuttiness and beautiful pink rind elates your farl and is a joy to savour.

P.s. If you do have leftover mashed potatoes please channel your ‘inner Anne’ and give it a go! As to how much Gubbeen to add? I didn’t measure it, it was simply how the mixture felt!

INGREDIENTS (to make 8 small farls)

500g floury potatoes
50g butter
50g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
¼ tsp baking powder
Salt and black pepper
Extra butter, for cooking
Gubbeen

1 Peel the potatoes, then cut them into quarters. Cover with water in a saucepan, season with a pinch of salt and cook for about 15 minutes or until they become tender. You can check this by sticking a knife into them, it should slide out again easily. Drain well, then return the potatoes to the pan.

2 Melt the butter in a pan and add to the potatoes. Mash until smooth. For the best results, pass the potatoes through a potato ricer or mouli – otherwise, use a standard potato masher.

3 Sift the flour with the baking powder into the potato mix and stir to combine. Add in some crumbled Gubbeen at this point for extra tastiness. Taste for seasoning and adjust, if required.

4 The dough should come together and away from the sides of the pan. You can add more flour if the mixture is too wet and a little milk if it is too dry.

5 Divide the dough into two halves. Form one piece into a ball, then roll it out on a floured surface and into a rough circle with a diameter of about 15 cm and a thickness of 5mm to 1cm. Cut the circle into quarters.

6 Heat a non-stick shallow frying pan over a medium heat with a little butter to grease the surface. Transfer the four pieces to the pan and cook for around 3 minutes or until golden brown. Flip over and cook the other side for another 3 minutes. Remove to a warm plate.

7 Repeat the process with the other half of the dough mix.

This recipe is adapted from 'The easy way to make farls' by Jane Baxter for The Guardian, March 2014.