With this whole new (ok, the last 5 months) fitness regime I must admit I've become a porridge addict. I actually go to bed looking forward more to breakfast than coming home from work to prepare an evening meal. So this has lead me to some experimentation and a bit of inspiration from some medieval recipes.
I've had almost every combination of sweet porridge imaginable, with ricotta, pistachios and honey, with almonds and sour cherries, with plain old honey or a few blueberries. Even getting my flavourist future mother-out-law to make up batches of essences and flavours for me so I can have perceived sweetness/alcohol flavours without the sugar or the alcohol (she's made me a cracking rose water and almond flavour - my current favourite, creme bruleé is next).
This soon led me on to researching porridge in other countries, like the awesome savoury rice porridge from Korea and other East Asian countries, polenta with syrup and nuts from Italy and semolina, thanks to my mum reminding me I used to scoff it when I was a kid.
So this morning I tried my hand at savoury porridge (I did have one failed experiment a year ago by mixing cheddar into a milk-based porridge - it was gross), inspired by a few medieval cooking books I came across recently. This time, it turned out fantastically and made me feel fuller despite the same calorie amount as the sweet porridges I'd normally make.
Ingredients:
35g Scottish oats
200ml water
5 slice of ham (I used pork loin since it's lower in fat and not boosted so much with water)
10g shaved parmesan cheese
pepper
1/2 tsp olive oil
A few raisins (optional)
Method
In a small saucepan, combine the oats and water, bring to boil and allow to simmer.
Tear the ham into chunks and add to the porridge and stir in the olive oil and pepper.
Stir in the cheese and if using (I find the sweet and salty combo is perfect with the pork loin ham), the raisins.
Once porridge is cooked through, serve.
You could probably throw in a few fresh herbs in too like a little sage or parsley. Totally up to you.
