Shakespeare got it wrong about porridge!

I have received an interesting infographic about porridge!  Click here to see it in all its glory.

I know, I expect we all do, that oats are good for us and seemingly Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela and even Tony Blair are porridge fans (although, of course, the last one  may be lying!).  

Well I don't like porridge, so there!  It's not the taste, it's the texture. If you are happy with the mouth feel there are, of course, all sorts of wondrous additions such as maple syrup, jam, honey, butter, clotted cream or whisky that will make it even better. 

Luckily for me I am still able to get my oats (you understand that I had to get that it somewhere, don't you?) in other ways as I do know some fine things to do with leftover (or purpose made) porridge. 

So, although Shakespeare said, amongst many other things: 

it seems he may have been barking up the wrong tree so to speak as cold porridge, used properly, can be a really good thing!

Honey Oatmeal Scones ~ based on an Original Idea by Mrs. Beeton

Quite a while ago now I wrote an article for Vegetarian Living on Mrs. Beeton’s Vegetarian Cooking and this was one of her good ideas.  In my grandmother’s edition Mrs. B says to knead into cold porridge “as much flour as will enable it to be rolled out ¼” thick but that was a bit too basic and heavy for me so here is my version.

300g cold porridge
30g soft butter

1 tbsp honey

self-raising flour

(or plain flour and baking powder in the ratios 100g flour:1 tsp baking powder)

~   Preheat oven to 375ºF/190ºC/170ºC fan/gas 5.
~   Mix together the first three ingredients and then work in the flour to make a soft, sticky but manageable dough.
~   Knead lightly then roll out on a floured board to a thickness of about 20mm.
~   Cut into rounds or other shapes and lay on a greased baking tray.
~   Brush with milk and bake for 20-25 minutes till risen and golden.

Porridge Hotcakes

These are even better then normal pancakes served with maple syrup, butter and perhaps a tad of smoky bacon.  

See here for the oat pancake recipe and also find out how to make  Dried Cherry Muffins and Chocolate Chip Brownies from leftover Porridge.   Or how about ...

Oaty Banana Cake

120g soft butter

2 cups light brown sugar

2 eggs

475ml (use a measuring jug) leftover porridge

140g  plain flour

1½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 ripe bananas - coarsely chopped

~   Lightly grease a cake tin or loaf pan.

~   Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC/160°C fan/gas 4

~   Cream together the butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

~   Whisk in the the eggs and the porridge

~ . Sift together the dry ingredients and fold into the batter.

~   Fold in the bananas.

~   Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake till risen, golden and springy to the touch - 35-40 minutes.

~   Cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out.

This is really good drizzled with Sticky Toffee Sauce, the recipe for which is here where you will also discover that I am actually bananaphobic so ... I add chocolate and grated orange zest to the above recipe instead!

Further info and a few other ideas for leftover porridge (and at least 449 other potential leftovers) can be found in Creative Ways to Use Up Lefovers. 

Read More Here

3 Sudden Breakfasts in a Row

Day 1 – Porridge Pancakes

My man likes a wee bit o’porridge for his breakfast and I don’t; I like its taste but not its texture.  It is a hard thing to do but the other day I managed to persuade him to make a double batch of porridge for me to experiment with – I had an idea (2 actually but I’m trying the other one later this afternoon).  What I had in mind was porridge pancakes – good idea as it turned out. 

½ cup/ freshly cooked porridge

1 tbsp flour mixed with ½ tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt

a little milk

~   Mix together the porridge and the dry ingredients.

~   Add enough milk to make a dropping consistency.

~   Dollop into a hot greased (bacon fat?) pan and cook, turning once, till crisp and golden on each side.

~   Serve with honey or maple syrup.

Don’t worry – any inherent goodness in the pancake is utterly offset by the butter, syrup, honey or whatever that you add to it.

Day 2 – Mangoes on Toast

We had a ripe mango laying about the place getting a bit anxious to be eaten so I made myself some toast, buttered it, topped with sliced mango, sprinkled with sugar and grilled till heated through.  With a dollop of cream cheese I found in the fridge this was even more delicious that I had anticipated.  Might do it again.

Day 3 (today) - Bacon Singin’ Hinnies

Why not pin this for later?

Singin’ Hinnies are a kind of pan baked scone like creature from Up North – they usually contain fruit and are often cooked in animal far, usually (oddly enough) lamb fat.  The sound of the fat melting on the griddle made a singing sound.  “Hinnie” is a Northumbrian term of endearment as, apparently, is “fatty”, “poopants” and “you big woofus”.
  

We often have them for breakfast, fruitless and cooked in olive oil, none of that namby pamby healthiness for us today though.  As you may know I have a supply of very nice bacon fat so it suddenly occurred to me to us some of it as the fat in my singin’ hinny dough.

225 g self raising flour OR plain flour and 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

a pinch or two of salt

50 g cold butter or margarine OR BACON FAT!

80 ml milk

~   Stir together the flour and salt and baking powder, if using.

~   Add the fat and “rub in” with your fingers until a breadcrumb texture is achieved. 

~   Add the milk and mix in, by hand is easiest, till you have a soft dough. 

~   Add a little more milk if too dry or a little more flour if too wet – you need a soft but not sticky dough. 

~   Lightly knead just a few times to bring the dough together.

~   Roll out to about 1 cm thick and cut into rounds or wedges (traditional hinny shape) or anything else you fancy.

~   Grease a frying pan which has a lid and heat on the stove. 

~   Lay the hinnies in the pan, turn down the heat and put on the lid.

~   Cook for a few minutes till the dough has risen and the bottom of the hinnies is golden.

~   Turn and cook without the lid (thus avoiding condensation dripping onto the hinnies and making them soggy) till cooked and golden on both sides.

~   Eat warm, split and buttered with whatever you fancy.

I took the liberty when making my Bacon Hinnies, of frying up one rasher of bacon till really crisp and crumbling it into the dough for lovely salty crunchy bits.

Genius Scone Recipe

Variations of this recipe can be used to make a surprising variety of things from traditional scones to cobblers, slumps, dumplings and doughnuts so I have written a book about it; The Secret Life of Scones.

Eating breakfast in our cockpit is a lovely way to start the day.  We watch the pelicans diving in their ungainly manner, our neighbour the turtle doing his thing and there are a couple of puffer fish who have lived under the boat for years.  I think they are married and, so far as we can tell they are still happy together – always kissing. 

For the past few days there have been some people camping in Hobie Cats (small catamarans) on the beach and sailing about the bay with their pretty sails up.

Hobie Cats

Non-Hobie Cat