Plain living

The weather has been cool of lately, mostly in the mornings, we're still in Summer which means having cooler weather is always nice.  Over home Dad was showing me what is growing in his garden, the pumpkin patch is huge and there's plenty of pumpkins coming off the vine. I have one on the bench here at home. He also has a lot of cuttings in pots for me to bring here. 

We've had a few visitors over the last couple of weeks and there's been plenty of cooking and games. Everyone enjoys a game of three's which is a bit like Rummy. 

On Australia day I made up a damper. It is pretty simple:

Recipe:

3 cups of self-raising flour

pinch of salt

80 g butter, chilled, cubed

3/4 cup water

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Grease baking tray. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl and rub butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Add water to flour mix and use a round bladed knife to mix until the mixture just comes together. Adding extra water if the mix is a little dry, use your hands to bring the mixture together. 

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently. Shape and place on tray. Add a coat of egg wash or milk wash on top, dust with a little extra flour. bake for 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm or eat cold.

When I made the damper I added in some tomatoes, shallots, onions, and left over chicken. It is really nice buttered hot.

I hope everyone is having a good day or evening where ever you are.