eat; roasted pumpkin, rosemary and parmasen scones

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With Halloween now in the shadows of our rush towards the end of the year, I decided to share with you what I created for my film crew a couple of weeks ago. Scones are one of those great things that are extremely versatile, easy to make and great when you have to come up with something quick for a get together with friends. They can be made sweet or savoury and the variations are endless! Try substituting the pumpkin with your favourite savoury combos like olive and feta cheese, or sun dried tomato and basil or sweet with dried apricots and vanilla bean or currents and cinnamon! YUM!

I really can't wait to get my camera. I'm not cooking so much now as I don't get the amazing results I was getting while using Nat's camera in L.A. You'll all hear about it when my camera finally makes it's way into my little hands!!!! Until then, just imagine how good these pics would look with a better camera! LOL!

Makes about 20 scones

1/2 Butternut pumpkin (squash)

a twig of fresh rosemary

splash of olive oil

4 cups Self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

100g chilled butter, cut into cubes

1 cup parmasen cheese

1 1/2 cups milk

Start by roasting the pumpkin. To do this, peel and cut the pumpkin into small bite size pieces. Place into a pan, add the rosemary by picking it off the twig and sprinkle a little salt and a splash of olive oil. Toss the whole thing to mix and place into a moderate oven for about half an hour.

Leaving the oven on, take out the cooked pumpkin and set aside until cool.

In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder. Add the butter and begin to 'crumb' it together by rubbing the butter into the flour. Making sure the butter is well mixed into the flour, add the roast pumpkin and cheese and mix through.

Now this is the tricky bit. The main thing about making scones is to NOT over-mix the dough!!! It is really tempting to keep mixing but DON'T! What I do at this stage is create the opposite to a well in the mixture so the flour mixture is piled up in the center so you add the milk to the sides of the bowl rather than the center.

Pour milk and with a knife, 'cut' the mixture to blend through the milk. Do not mix until doughy. Mix until just combined. It is ok for the mixture to be a little 'crumbly'.

Once cut through, flour a chopping board and lightly take two handfulls of dough and place it onto the floured board. Lightly press down to make a flat round circle about an inch thick. Cut the dough into eight wedges, cutting in half, than quarters, then eighths, like a pizza.

Gently place the cut scones onto a non-stick tray, brush with a little milk and sprinkle with extra parmasen. Bake in a 200C oven for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. 

These are best served warm but still taste great when cooled down.

 Buon Appetito!!!