Porridge Topping Du Semaine

The wearing of the green was a bit of a week-long thing for me, as I got a lil bit festive with my brekkie and, not content with eating my morning oats from a green bowl, I got in another of the 40 shades with a good glug of apple juice. I've been reading about soaking oats in juice here and there, and the only reason I've avoided doing it up until now is that I have an aversion to fruit juices; stick to the real thing, I feel, as it is sugary enough as it is and shouldn't really comprise the greater part of your five-a-day - unless you're after the face-full-of-brown-teeth look. Things like juice tend to spend a bit of time hanging out in my fridge, hogging space while more popular ingredients come and go as they jostle for space and get used up very quickly. I was looking for something to complement some lovely fat sultanas, though, and this was just the job. A little calcium-anxiety kicked in, when I realised that milk would not feature in the basic equation, and so a blob of very indulgent yogurt on top made a more balanced start to the day.

Porridge Topping Du Semaine

Passion fruit are probably up there with figs on the whole bad pun potential end of things. But I have more respect for you and, indeed, myself than to yak on about putting a bit of passion into your brekkie. I'll just give you a succinct rundown on the concoction that I put on my porridge this week. I was dubious as to the nutritional qualities of the fruit - look at them, sure what are they really other than a gathering of seeds in some brightly-coloured gloopy gunk? In fact, there is quite a lot of virtue packed within the walls of that smooth brown rind. Apparently, according to the tinternet anyhow, passion fruit are full of vitamins A and C, potassium and fibre. So judge ye not. They're not the cheapest - I bought four for €3 in Superquinn - but I guess it all depends on the serving size that you go for. It goes without saying that cracked into a serving of all four at once, but guessing that I'm in an extremely greedy minority I would suggest that half of that is sufficient to top an average-sized bowl of porridge.

Porridge Topping Du Semaine

Bananas - such a versatile word; I'm going a bit bananas over here; yer man got bananas drunk last night; that child is pure bananas; your ring tone is driving me bananas. The fruit - nyeh, I wouldn't be wild about it. It seems something of a treat-substitute to me, since it's so sweet and soft and sugary. I never see why you should overburden yourself with healthy substitutes for things when the thing you're substituting it for isn't exactly crack cocaine. It can be a significant part of some yum desserts and makes seriously tasty bread, but the only reason I am ever compelled to grab a 'nana is post-exercise, if there is a significant time barrier between me and my next meal. My cousin Sheila has diabetes and when we were kids she was constantly having bananas forced upon her like there was a banana famine on the way (a banamine, if you will), resulting in a loathing of them. That has also reinforced my view of them as pure pointless sugar. They are frequently cited as a favourite porridge topping, however, and I'll take whatever I can get on the inspiration front in my weekly quest to put something new atop my stirabout.

Porridge Topping Du Semaine

I would say that the only thing that I don't like about figs is when people write about them and feel compelled to crack horrendously lame 'jokes' about not giving a fig. There'll be none of that here; no, when I tell you all about the grilled figs that I've been putting on my porridge this week I'll be too busy oo-ing over 1) the taste, 2) the smell and 3) the price to resort to such over-trodden paths of pun-ness. 

Porridge Topping Du Semaine

Since I have set myself the challenge of coming up with a new porridge topping every week, I've been eating fruit that ordinarily I wouldn't be bothered with. I used to eat loads of fruit, and then I realised that it is so sugary as to not necessarily be that good for you. Vegetables should comprise the majority of your five-a-day, and while fruits are obviously extremely healthy and good for you, it's best not to overdose. Breakfast tends to be the only time in the day when I tuck into some fruit, apart from fueling up on bananas after a cycle or a run, so it's lovely to try fruit that I haven't had in a while, and come up with new ways of preparing it. These ways can very often be ones that I would ordinarily associate with making dessert or cooking savoury foods. Like roasting; when I was trying to figure out how to jazz up a punnet of plums, I hit on the notion of chopping them up and popping them into the oven with some cinnamon and butter for some heat and added sweetness.

Porridge Topping Du Semaine

Pears can be quite the head wreckers, as fruit goes. They're one of those one-minute-it's-too-hard-the-next-minute-it's-half-rotten fruits. Life, quite frankly, is far too short for all of that messing around, so personally I'm more inclined to opt for the more predictable, reliable types, like apples and oranges. I found a whole new way to incorporate the pear into my life, however, as I was flicking through the Ballymaloe Cookery Course on the hunt for a marmalade recipe the other day. It turns out that Darina has a whole chapter devoted to breakfast! Swoon. Yes, the book is that huge that I have had it for over two years and never noticed the entire section on breakfast. Doh. Boy-oh-boy do I plan to make up for lost time with those lovely brekkie-filled pages. First stop: ginger pear compote, a sweet n spicy complement to the first meal of the day.

Porridge Topping Du Semaine

They may not be the sexiest substance around, but prunes are packed full of nutrients and life-giving essentials that make them a particularly worthy foodstuff to put on your porridge. The prunius maximus is generally considered the preserve of the elderly, given, in particular, its bowel-shifting properties, but they are also full of vitamin A and antioxidants, among other superpowers. Good enough for me, then, particularly in my ongoing mission to consume responsibly after runs, swims and cycles. Bring it on - but in a tasty fashion, please. So, how to make some wizened prunes more appealing to the palette? I decided to soak mine in orange juice and tea. Yes, tea.

Porridge Topping Du Semaine

I'm not really into effortful food, y'know, stuff that's a bit high maintenance. Like mangoes - they are pretty delicious, and apparently they're really good for your skin, but there's all of that peeling and then that big awkward stone thingy in the middle. It's not like an apple, you can't just crack it out when you have the munchies. You have to come prepared with many utensils to make it edible at all, and then the whole situation gets all sticky and messy. So clearly the best way to eat it is pre-chopped, on a chopping board, in your kitchen, surrounded by things to clear up the ensuing mess with. And what better fruit to chaperone porridge into my stomach of a cold winter morning? I'd love to say that it was innate culinary genius that made me come up with this, but actually I saw that mangoes were for sale at half price in Superquinn. But who really cares where the inspiration came from, this is a winning combo, and the contrast of the sweet, firm mango and the hot oaty porridge is both refreshing and hearty.

Porridge Topping Du Semaine

While notching up the fruitiness on the porridge front tis week, I also decided to make it spicy. Apple and banana seem to be pretty popular toppings, but rather than leave them plain and simple, I decided to stew them together in some orange juice. 

Porridge Topping O' Boldness

I was trying to get myself out the door to the swimming pool yesterday morning (I really am such a slowcoach when it comes to leaving the house) and I discovered that I had no fruit to put on my porridge. Quelle désastre! Always on the lookout for the opportunity to indulge myself, I remembered that I had the end of a packet of pecans in the cupboard and a big jar of maple syrup in the fridge. Now, I  wouldn't go for this high-calorie, teeth-rotting combo ordinarily, but it made a lovely Saturday morning treat. I toasted the nuts very quickly on a non-stick pan, and I was very liberal in my pouring of the syrup. Anyhow, surely pecans have all the virtuous oils that all the other nuts have? Or was it at the back of the queue when the nutritional qualities were being given out? Plus, I believe that there is actually a great deal of calcium in maple syrup. I did a monster swim in any case, so I definitely needed all of that energy. 

Porridge Topping Du Semaine

I've decided that if myself and porridge are going to get on for any decent amount of time, it's going to have to keep me interested, shake it up a little every now and then, make a bit of an effort. So my action plan is to have a new porridge topping every week. Last week it was dried apricots and berries soaked in orange juice and then simmered in a pot with a cinnamon stick, this week it's simply some frozen blueberries, heated up in a saucepan on the hob while the porridge cooks Not rocket science by any means, but a cheap, speedy and inexpensive way to get the day going. 

Shiny New 2011 Breakfast

An area of my eating where I can be very, very dull is breakfast. For monnnnnnths now I've been tucking into a reliable mix of fancy Superquinn muesli, blueberries and Glenisk natural yogurt. It's speedy and minimal on the washing up front, though the muesli and the berries are pricey enough. At the weekend I like to retreat to my bed with maybe a bagel or a croissant, along with a pot of coffee and the paper, of course. When I'm on holidays I capitalise on the leisure time available to cook myself something tasty, and sometimes I choose to linger at home in the morning just long enough to try out something a little new and special. But my on-the-go weekday morning staple needs a little shaking up, and, to that end, my new brekkie-du-jour is to be porridge. Not plain old porridge, of course; there are as many ways to jazz up your simple bowl of stirabout as there are with pasta. I get at least one of my five-a-day in at breakfast time, so, rather than being all trendy and experimental and chucking some veggies in there, I generally go with fruit. After flicking through some books and website for inspiration, I set to work with my own little concoction. Some dried apricots and a dried berry soaked in orange juice the night before; I know that the benefits of prunes are innumerable, but to be honest I couldn't quite face up to them - they just reek of over-zealous early morning nutrition action to me.