The One with Hand Transplants and Pizza Scones
Welcome to Friends with Food Episode #12! Listen here. Our friend Ashley Velarde joins us this episode! Ashley is a former bartender and burlesque producer who has since become a corporate stooge, punching a clock, and… oh, paying taxes!
In this episode we cover Friends Season 5 Episode 12, The One with Chandler’s Work Laugh. This episode originally aired on January 21st, 1999. In a refreshing change-up, Brandy was at number one on the charts with “Have You Ever”. The iconic film (that none of us have ever seen) Varsity Blues was number one at the box office. There is much talk of whipped cream bikinis!
Gotta love sad-sack Ross!
The gang finds out Ross slept with Janice!
Janice dumps Ross because HE’S too whiny!
pizza scones
The episode opens with Joey housing a giant pizza as Rachel questions him about Monica and Chandler’s relationship (above. As you can imagine, his answers are useless). Pizza is a recurring theme throughout Friends. Ross has an angry outburst directed at a scone soon afterwards— in his words, “Stupid British snack food!” Y’all know I love an angry Ross! Naturally I had to combine these two ideas, and thus the Pizza Scone was born. Shout out to my food-friend Bebe Black Carminito for helping me brainstorm ideas for this one! You should all go follow her on Instagram ASAP.
pizza scones + tomato butter
tomato butter
10oz (one dry pint) cherry tomatoes
3 unpeeled cloves garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp dried oregano
1 tsp kosher salt, divided
½ tsp red pepper flakes, divided
8 tbsp (one stick) butter, room temperature
Preheat oven to 375F. Place tomatoes and unpeeled garlic cloves on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle oregano over top along with ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp red pepper flakes. Roast for about 30 minutes, until tomatoes are splitting, blistered, and slightly charred.
Place butter in a small mixing bowl. Remove garlic from their skins, discarding skin. Place garlic in mixing bowl and pour in roasted tomatoes including any juices from the pan. Add ¼ tsp salt and ¼ tsp red pepper flakes. Use a fork to mash everything together until well mixed. The mixture will be chunky! Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper flakes to taste. Transfer the butter mixture to a container and chill in the refrigerator. Butter can be made a few days ahead and kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
pizza scones
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for dusting)
1 tbsp baking powder
pinch of kosher salt
9 tbsp cold butter (one stick plus a tablespoon)
1 tsp whole fennel seeds
½ cup grated parmesan (or a mixture of parm and asiago)
½ cup - 1 cup milk
¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbsp pesto
1 egg
Preheat oven to 425F. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut the cold butter into cubes and add to the flour mixture. Working briskly, scrunch the butter through the flour vigorously with your hands. You basically want to smash the chunks of butter into the flour mixture with your fingers. When all the large chunks of butter are smashed and the mixture is crumbly, you are done. Some medium sized chunks of butter may remain, this is just fine and will only make the scones flakier! Add the fennel seeds and cheese and mix to combine. Add ½ cup of milk and knead dough into a ball. Add more milk as needed until the dough comes together. Add sun-dried tomatoes and fold into the dough to mix. Add pesto and gently fold it through the dough once or twice; don’t over mix!
Dust a large cutting board with flour. Flop the dough onto the board and shape into a flat, round disk about 3 inches thick. Cut into 6 or 8 wedges (depending on what size you like your scones). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and place scones on pan with at least a couple of inches of space in between. Crack the egg into a small bowl or cup. Add a splash of cold water and scramble with a fork. Brush the top of the scones with the egg mixture. Bake scones for about 15 minutes, until golden brown.
Serve scones warm, split in half, with a generous slather of tomato butter.
