Did I mention that I was on a pumpkin cooking bender?
Well, yes. With the first pumpkin I made these, and these, and then froze the remaining pumpkin puree for later. Then last week I made Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese, and the mix of flavours inspired me. What’s happening in our garden also inspired me…
After a couple of months of winter, and the accompanying rain, our garden is looking quite green. Never mind that the green is mostly weeds… winter has also encouraged our herbs to flourish. And thanks to hubby’s careful persistence, we now have not one, but two garden beds full of coriander and parsley. There’s also a very healthy rosemary bush that I have begun making good use of.
When I made pumpkin scones last time, I used Flo’s recipe as a base, and created a sweet pumpkin and choc chip scone. Turns out you don’t need an egg; the mixture is quite wet enough without it. So this time, it was back to my baking bible, and a recipe for Pumpkin and Sage Scones. I didn’t have any sage, but I did have rosemary and parsley in abundance… and a small hunk of Parmesan cheese languishing in the fridge.
These are really quite perfect; savoury, herby, cheesy and delicious, they could almost be called patriotic. Serve warm, dunked into your favourite soup, or just enjoy on their own with butter… these are what pumpkin was made for!
Parsley and Parmesan Pumpkin Scones
Adapted from Family Circle’s Baking- a commonsense guide
Makes 8 scones
Ingredients
250g (2 cups) self-raising flour
250g (1 cup) mashed pumpkin
20g (2 tbspns) butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
1-2 tablespoons milk or cream
1-2 tablespoons yellow polenta
Method
Preheat oven to 180 deg C (350deg F). Lightly grease a baking tray or line with baking paper. Sift the self-raising flour into a bowl with a pinch of salt. Using your fingertips, rub the pumpkin and butter into the flour (yes, it gets messy!) and then cut in the herbs and grated parmesan with a knife.
Bring the mixture together with a little cream or milk and turn out onto bench sprinkled with polenta. Shape the mixture into a round and press it out to about 3cm (1 ¼ inch) thick.
Gently mark or cut the scone into eight segments and bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through. Serve warm.
Notes
For the parmesan cheese, I would recommend going all out and buying it in a block. Grating your own fresh parmesan totally beats buying the pre-grated stuff; the flavour is by far superior, and there’s no going back!
