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12:16 am
Sat 12-Aug-06
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Last week Fiona began making porridge (oat flakes) for our weekday breakfasts.
She used my childhood favourite (Flahavan's Irish organic) and it was more than delicious, made with half milk and half water. With a simple topping of a teaspoonful of brown sugar and a dash of cream, it kept us well satisfied until the evening. Amazing that such a simple dish is both enjoyable and sustaining.
Anybody got good ideas for different toppings or stir-through flavourings?
Never knowingly underfed
12:37 pm
Expert
Sat 10-Oct-09
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I loved them as a kid but now i ues them for flatjacks then coat them in choclate and then sesame seeds.
but just used to put milk in them.
2:10 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Pure Maple Syrup for me. And Blueberries if you have them.
I'll try that again!
6:47 pm
I just love porridge - preferably made with jumbo oats to give a bit of texture - OH likes it smooth and gloopy
I like it with grated apple and a little honey
Interestingly at the 'Countryside Live' show in Harrogate on Saturday, the NFU had a stand promoting porridge!
They were stressing health benefits and also trying to be more 'up to date' by serving with blueberries or with marmalade and chocolate chips!
They missed one other big plus for porridge - it's cheap. Would have been interesting to display say £1.00 worth of oats next to £1.00 worth of processed cereals -no contest really
7:43 pm
Sat 12-Aug-06
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I love it too. And as you say it's cheap. We bought the organic Irish one and it's just pennies for breakfast and we don't need lunch.
So slimline in every sense of the word.
7:45 pm
Supreme Being
Mon 21-Sep-09
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Here in Latvia they call lots of things porridge so it gets confusing. We went to a cultural event and they said there was going to be porridge there and that is normal for a sporting event but when it arrived it was more like a pearl barley, yellow pea and smoked sausage broth so was a bit of a surprise.
As porridge itself is a bit high in nickel I can't eat much in the way of oats but here there are lots of grains to make a porridge with, so I have a five grain mix, but you can also get barley flakes, as well as some others which I can't remember right now.
9:58 pm
Sat 12-Aug-06
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I like those additions:
maple syrup or honey
blueberries or grated apple
mutley, I think sesame seeds would work well in porridge too. Fiona roasted a batch of pumpkin seeds last week and they were really delicious. They went all soft and chewy after being left out for a few hours, but straight from the oven (or probably stored in an airtight jar) they were superb
Never knowingly underfed
9:43 am
Senior Class
Mon 21-Sep-09
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I have porridge oats for breakfast all year round...
Summer - soaked in milk until soft (I add a spoonful of golden linseed too), served with lots of fruit (whatever is in season) and a couple of spoonfuls of live yogurt.
Winter - cooked with half water half milk (plus the linseed as above) served with baked apple or banana and live yogurt. Sometimes with a spponful of my homemade black grape syrup (supposed to be jelly!!) Today, just 'because' I added a teaspoon of golden syrup.
I get through quite a lots of porridge oats! so now buy the 5kg bags from Daily Bread in Cambridge, costs £4.69.
If I happen to cook too much 
, the hens love to have the leftover for elevenses
Celia
10:26 am
In Sweden I learned to toast the oat flakes in a dry skillet before making porridge - it really adds to the flavour.
They also made a large batch of porridge and poured some into a tray to cool - the following day they cut it up and fried it like polenta. Somehow I never quite fancied that but some brave soul might like to try it and report back!
10:57 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Hmm, interesting. I lived in Sweden for a while and the only thing I was ever offered for breakfast was meatballs and fried potatoes. I just took the coffee...
I'll try that again!
4:56 pm
Toffeeapple - I lived and worked on a Biodynamic smallholding and never even saw a Swedish meatball!
perhaps we should start a thread under International Food & Culture on Sweden?
Do you remember knekerbrod, filmjolk or gjetoest?
7:45 pm
Supreme Being
Mon 21-Sep-09
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In Latvia toasted oat flakes are used as a topping on a sort of jelly and custard concoction. The jelly is made using potato starch to a fruit juice and the custard is a vanilla sauce.
9:21 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Lovage said:
Do you remember knekerbrod, filmjolk or gjetoest?
At the moment I barely remember the fruit soup; we are talking almost 40 years ago, I'll get my old diaries out. My most recent Scandinavian food exploits were in Finland - hell, that's almost 20 years ago, where does the time go? I'd love, though, to re-live my time in Sweden, it was truly magical; with your help I could remember a lot of it. (If you have the patience?)
I'll try that again!
11:03 pm
Sat 12-Aug-06
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Toffeeapple said:Hmm, interesting. I lived in Sweden for a while and the only thing I was ever offered for breakfast was meatballs and fried potatoes. I just took the coffee...
omygawd, Toffeeapple, I would kill for that combo most mornings.
Never knowingly underfed
11:12 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Behave yourself, you can't eat that much protein!
I'm sure they used to open a tin of meatballs and fry up last night's potatoes. BTW, I was in Waitrose this morning and found your Irish oats. I bought some (73p – is that right?) so will have that for breakfast tomorrow with Creme Fraiche and Maple Syrup.
I'll try that again!
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