Porridge With Apples

I spent last week in Romania. Beautiful country, lovely people, but I must say I didn't much enjoy the breakfasts. Piles of processed meat do not sit well with me first thing in the morning, especially when they include the remains of yesterday's breakfast, refried! I suppose we shouldn't blame them for being economical. I longed to get back to my favourite autumn breakfast: a bowl of simple, warming porridge.

The best thing about porridge (apart from being healthy, filling, and cheap) is that it is a completely blank canvas. It could carry literally any flavour that took your fancy. To merely sprinkle a little bit of white sugar on top is such a waste! (If you must, crunchy demerara is best.) Beliefs about the perfect porridge method are as strongly held and passionately preached as those about making the perfect cuppa. There are the microwavers, the overnight soakers, the fancy grain users, those who swear by a pinch of salt. There is even an annual porridge-making competition held in Carrbridge in the Scottish Highlands, in which porridge-lovers compete for a golden "spurtle", the traditional Scottish porridge-stirring tool. The organisers of the event have instigated World Porridge Day, held on the 10th of October each year.

I prefer my trusty pink spatula to a golden spurtle, but if I were to enter the competition, this is the porridge I would make. The start of porridge season happens to coincide with the start of apple season, and the two work wonderfully together. Forget the milk/water argument - apple juice gives the porridge a lovely silky consistency, and negates the need for a further topping of sugar.

To my mind, porridge is a warming breakfast soup. If you can stand a spoon up in it, something has gone horribly wrong. Like baked beans, it's best taken from a huge pot which has been simmering away for some time, rather than quickly zapped in the microwave. The extra effort is worth it - and if, like me, you feel a little delicate in the mornings, the gentle putter of porridge on the hob is a far more agreeable soundtrack than the roar of the microwave.

Apple porridge for one

 

1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup apple juice
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Add to a small saucepan the oats, apple juice and water. Heat gently, stirring when it starts to thicken. When it comes together and starts to look like porridge, add the milk (if you add it at the start, it could curdle) and stir in the cinammon. If you are lazy about washing up, you could eat from the pan - but I prefer to use a bowl!

I like to top mine with stewed apple, which conveniently takes the same amount of time to prepare as the porridge takes to cook. It's a rare occasion where the microwave does the best job - the pieces of apple cook through but still hold their shape. One peeled, sliced apple needs about 3 minutes of zapping.