Q&A with Karen Wright

Hear from local author Karen Wright who will be demoing at this year's Rhubarb Festival. You can also find a bonus rhubarb-inspired recipe to try at home!

We’re delighted to announce GBBO Contestant and Author Karen Wright will be joining us at this year’s Rhubarb Festival Chef Demos!

You can catch her at 1pm on Friday 21 February and 11am on Sunday 23 February.

In advance of the festival, we sat down with Karen for a quickfire foodie Q&A!


1. What is your most vivid childhood food memory?

Everyone that I know loves fish and chips but as a child when I visited my Gran in Featherstone I was sometimes sent to buy some from a little chip shop down a terraced street. I was asked to buy Scufflers to go with our fish and chips. Scufflers were a big thing back then, a triangular bread cake with a heavy dusting of flour on them. Just the name fascinated me, it still does, I love to try to discover the origins of food. The texture and the dusting of flour that you could feel on your top lip set Scufflers apart from any other bread I had tried back then, I have tried to recreate them myself but they are never quite the same as I remember.

2. What is your most memorable meal out?

This year I was invited on a press trip to Milan and we were wined and dined by our hosts and had a wonderful time. One lunchtime we were taken to an unlikely looking place, it didn’t look like a restaurant from the outside. Once we entered the building though it was amazing. All the Italian business men and women were dressed to the nines in smart and elegant clothes. The waiters were gliding about and as we were led to our table we passed the chillers abundant with fruits, cheeses, deli meats and desserts. The waiter served platter upon platter of different delicacies including seafood, pasta and risotto. I felt we were experiencing a true authentic Italian meal, it was an absolute joy.

3. What is your favourite ingredient?

This is a difficult one but I think I am going to plump for a lemon. In cooking I find a squeeze of lemon or a little lemon zest can perk up the lowliest of dishes. For example, a tray of roasted potatoes finished off with lemon and a grind of sea salt takes them to a much higher level, and of course lemon is used in baking so much too, so yes it is a lemon for me!

4. Who is your dream dinner guest?

I would invite Fanny Craddock to my dinner table, I thought she was hilarious and slightly scary at the same time so she would be an interesting person to have to dinner.

5. Who are your Yorkshire culinary heroes?

The Yorkshire people that I have worked alongside on stage and learned so much from are Stephanie Moon, Tim Bilton and Chris Hale, all Yorkshire chefs.

6. Where is a place you love to eat?

As a member of Wakefield Civic Society dining club we visit a local restaurant every month, they are all good, it’s like choosing a favourite child, impossible to pick. We are blessed to have such a wide range of places to dine in.

7. Lastly, what has been a career highlight?

Publishing my book Meals on the Move a campsite cooking journey was such a thrill.

Rhubarb and Wensleydale Scone

This mixture makes eight small scones or one large scone to serve six.

Ingredients

  • 225g Self Raising Flour
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp mustard powder
  • Half teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 55g butter
  • 60 g crumbled Wensleydale Cheese
  • 40 grams grated Cheddar Cheese
  • 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tbs honey and milk made up to 120ml
  • 1 stick rhubarb very finely sliced

Method

Heat the oven to 200c or 180fan

Place the flour, baking powder, salt, mustard and cayenne into a bowl and combine. Add the butter and rub together using fingers and thumbs until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Stir through the cheese and the rhubarb.

Add the egg, milk, honey mixture reserving a small amount for glazing.

Mix it all together with a butter knife until it forms a soft dough.

Knead for a few seconds and then roll out to about an inch thick. Either cut individual scones or shape into a big round and score the top of the scone into six triangles.

Brush the top with the reserved egg mixture.

Place on a greased baking tray and place in the oven.

For individual scones bake for about fifteen minutes, for the large sharing one bake for about twenty-five minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.