To celebrate National Porridge Week, three chefs offer their favourite breakfast recipes. Ross Lewis, of Michelin-starred restaurant Chapter One offers a nutty version, while food bloggers Gastro Gays offer their dish, which takes inspiration from cherry bakewell tarts, and TV chef Andrew Rudd uses porridge oats to make a fruity crumble.
Ross Lewis’s Creamy porridge with hazelnut, banana and toasted oatmeal
Ingredients:
40g (1½ oz) Flahavan's Progress Oatlets
120mls water
100mls milk
2 tbsp. condensed milk – optional
2 tbsp. of cream – optional
½ banana
8-10 hazelnuts - roasted, skinned and lightly crushed or 1 dessert spoonful of chopped hazelnuts
Small pinch of salt
Toasted Oatmeal Topping:
2 tbsp. Flahavan's Progress Oatlets
1 tbsp. brown sugar
Method:
Soak the porridge for three hours or more in the water. Then bring to the boil for two minutes while stirring.
Add the milk and cook out for a further 2-3 minutes.
To finish, stir in the cream and condensed milk (if using) with the small pinch of salt and the roasted hazelnuts.
For the toasted oatmeal, sprinkle the sugar over the 2 tbsp of Flahavan’s Progress Oatlets and place under a hot grill for 3-4 minutes until golden brown, taking care not to burn.
To Serve:
Garnish the creamy porridge with thinly sliced banana and a sprinkling of the toasted oatmeal.
You can also use other nuts such as roasted cashew, pecan or walnuts in this porridge.
Gastro Gays’ Cherry bakewell porridge
Ingredients
1/2 cup porridge oats
1 cup of full-fat Irish milk
A drop of almond essence
A dash of vanilla extract (or use the seeds from a vanilla pod)
A small handful of sliced almonds
A dessertspoonful of fruit jam (cherry, or your favourite seedless berry variety)
A handful of fresh cherries (de-seeded and halved - can use tinned cherries if not in season)
A splash of fresh Irish single cream
A pinch of salt
Method:
Bring the milk and oats to a gentle boil in a saucepan over a medium-high heat
Then turn down the heat to medium-low and continuing to stir with a wooden spoon until thickened and the liquid is almost entirely absorbed.
Add a pinch of salt and stir in both the vanilla essence and almond essence.
As the porridge is cooking slowly, gently toast the flaked almonds on a dry pan over a medium heat until lightly golden. Keep an eye on them, they will turn from pale to blackened almost within the one minute.
To assemble, begin with the porridge in a bowl and add the jam on top in the centre.
Arrange the halved cherries around the bowl, top with a scattering of the toasted almonds
Finish with a small drizzle of cold, fresh cream around the edges of the porridge.
Andrew Rudd’s Cinnamon, apple & rubard crumble recipe
Ingredients for the fruit base
3 cooking apples, large, peeled, cored and sliced
5 rhubarb, stalks, washed, peeled and cut into 2cm pieces
100g butter
4 tbsps brown sugar
½ orange, juiced
50ml liqueur, of your choice
1 orange, zested
Ingredients for the crumble topping
150g butter, cold, cut into cubes
100g plain flour
100g wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt
150g porridge oats
150g brown sugar
30g walnuts, shelled and chopped (optional)
1 tbsp cinnamon
Method:
Preheat the oven to 160ºC fan/180°C/gas mark 4.
In a large frying pan, lightly fry the apple and rhubarb pieces in the butter.
Sprinkle over the brown sugar and, once the fruit is lightly caramelised, add the orange juice, liqueur and zest and stir well.
Then transfer the fruit to an ovenproof baking dish and allow to cool slightly while you make the crumble topping.
To make the crumble, place the chilled, cubed butter in a large bowl and sieve in the plain flour.
Add the wholemeal flour and the salt.
Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Then add in the oats, sugar, walnuts and cinnamon and mix well.
Sprinkle the crumble topping over the fruit and bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes. Serve with softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
For more #PorridgeisPersonal oat and porridge recipes from food author Rozanna Purcell, meteorologist Nuala Carey, cyclist Nicolas Roche and Waterford hurler Austin Gleeson and others, see Flahavan's Facebook page.
