A Summer Breakfast Idea

Porridge has had a resurgance in popularity in the last few years, due to an increased awareness of the benefits of oats. Oatmeal contains about 22% protein, 66% carbohydrate and 9% ‘good oils’. It contains soluble fibre, which is thought to be good at reducing cholesterol, by binding to it in the gut and ‘escorting’ it out of the body. Most people with Coeliac’s Disease avoid oats - the protein in oats seems to be too similar to gluten for their bodies to be able to handle, though in many cases the problem is that oats are generally milled in places where other grains are also milled and as such, are contaminated with gluten from barley, wheat or rye.

But assuming you don’t have a problem with oats and have been enjoying porridge all winter, you may be looking for something a little lighter for these lighter mornings. This month’s recipe idea is Bircher muesli, something my husband and I started eating when we lived in Switzerland about 18 years ago. It was invented by Dr Bircher-Benner for the benefit of patients in his Zurich clinic in the 1890’s. Over the years, although the basic recipe remains the same, it has been adapted and personalised so much that I wonder if the good doctor would still recognise it!

Basically, we make up a dry mix of 100g of rolled oats, 60g of mixed (unsalted) nuts, and 30g of seeds and keep it in a large jam jar or tupperware box in the fridge. Experiment with whatever nuts you have available, but I always have flaked almonds for texture along with a selection of chopped hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans or macadamia. For the seeds it can be a little more complicated. Tiny seeds like linseed and sesame seeds are very hard for the body to digest, so their goodness can pass straight through. They really should be crushed or ground in a clean coffee grinder no more than a couple of days before eating (ideally immediately before eating as their good oils are delicate and prone to going rancid, which is really bad for you). Bigger seeds like sunflower or pumpkin seeds can be simply chewed well to make them more digestible.

Anyway, it’s a good idea to take a couple of dessertspoons of your dry mix and soak it overnight in a cereal bowl in water, apple juice or milk, according to taste. This makes the minerals in the oats more absorbable, but it also makes the nuts soggy, so you may prefer to skip this step. In the morning, add the mix, whether pre-soaked or not, to a small pot of yoghurt. If you use a fruit yoghurt, read the label and make sure it’s not too sugary. Otherwise use plain live yoghurt with a little honey if necessary.

Finally fold in fresh fruit. Yet again, it is all a matter of taste. I understand the original Bircher muesli contained grated pear or apple. I personally prefer fresh or frozen berries or slice banana. If you are making a big batch for the whole family, you could put all the fruits in! The final result should be a big bowl, full of a pretty sloppy but very tasty Bircher muesli.

This recipe can seem pretty complicated at first, but once you have a batch of dry mix in the fridge, it’s quite straightforward and offers a great deal of variety depending on all the different choices you make. It’s full of fresh, healthy ingredients and makes a tasty, satisfying start to a summer’s day. En guete, as they say in Switzerland!

I love rhubarb. It's been available for a while as 'forced' rhubarb, which is a beautiful pale pink. I've never dared try to force the rhubarb in my garden for fear my crop is reduced! As you can see in the photo above, it has recovered magnificently from the recent snow, thankfully.

Rhubarb is not actually a fruit but a vegetable as we eat the stalks, which should be crisp and firm. Generally speaking, the pinker the stalk, the sweeter the rhubarb. The leaves contain toxic amounts of oxalic acid and should be thrown away. As far as nutrition goes, rhubarb contains fibre, vitamin C, potassium and calcium among other nutrients.

It does have a tart flavour, which means that most people like to eat it with a little sugar, but also means that it goes beautifully with rich meats such as duck or fish like mackerel. Apparently the reason why lots of people groan when they are offered rhubarb resulted in part from the war, when sugar was scarce, and it was hard to overcome the tartness. That reluctance to eat rhubarb was passed on down the generations, which is a real shame as far as I'm concerned. If you have avoided rhubarb in the past, hopefully these ideas might pique your appetite

Sweet Rhubarb Puree

The acid in rhubarb reacts with aluminium, so cook it in a stainless steel or cast-iron pan. Put the chopped rhubarb stalks into a pan with just a splash of water. The amount of sugar depends on the rhubarb itself and your taste, but you can add more at the end if necessary. So start with about a quarter sugar by weight – usually a couple of dessert spoonfuls. Cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, and then leave to cool for a couple more minutes. Whizz it in a processor if you want a smooth puree. (If you really want the rhubarb to keep its shape, cook it in the oven instead of in a pan).

The flavour of rhubarb goes beautifully with ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, rosewater and orange, so experiment with it – adding these spices or replacing the water with orange juice while cooking.

You can use the puree, with or without stewed apples, as a base for a variety of puddings, such as crumbles, betties or pies. When it’s cooled, fold in whipped cream or Greek yoghurt to make a fool, or add to custard and then churn it in an ice-cream maker for lovely pale pink ice cream.

Savoury Rhubarb Sauce

Gently fry a finely chopped shallot in 1oz/25g of butter in a non-stick pan until transparent. Add 8oz/225g of chopped rhubarb and cook gently until the rhubarb has softened and become sauce-like. Force the mixture through a metal sieve and serve with salmon, mackerel, pork or duck. Again, try adding ginger (powder or fresh grated root) for variety.

Did you know, rhubarb grows so fast that you can actually hear it grow? The heart of rhubarb growing in Britain is Wakefield in Yorkshire. Visit Wakefield’s Rhubarb Triangle either in person or virtually on http://www.yorkshirerhubarb.co.uk/ for more about this tasty treat