It’s the shortest day of the year. And here in Orange it feels like the coldest. Wouldn’t a big bowl of baked porridge with poached quinces and a dollop of cream be an excellent breakfast today?
If you fancy taking your porridge up a level, then please try this baked recipe from A Basket by the Door. It feels like pudding. It is porridge. It’s easy to make; you just throw everything together the night before and then put it in the oven on waking. And I can’t think of a more comforting thing for breakfast or brunch on this cold weekend.
Baked porridge
Prep time 15 mins
Cook time 1 hour
Serves 6
Baked porridge is a bit of a breakfast game changer. No stirring, no burnt pots just one big tray of goodness. You can use any fruit you like here, I like lots of tart apple but while recipe testing for this book I also made this with poached quinces and sprinkled the top with toasted hazlenuts and ground cinnamon. You could also make without the fruit and add some later. Slippery peaches would be nice in summer too.
4 cooking apples, peeled and thinly sliced or grated (I love the tartness of Granny Smith’s here)
1 1/2 cups porridge oats (not instant)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup toasted walnuts, hazelnuts or almonds, roughly chopped
2 eggs
4 cups whole milk
1 tsp vanilla paste
Natural yogurt and honey, to serve
Lightly grease a large four-cup capacity baking dish and preheat the oven to 180C. Place the apple slices across the base of the dish then combine the oats with the cinnamon, baking powder, salt, walnuts and sugar and cover the fruit with this mixture. Whisk the egg, milk and vanilla paste together and pour over the oats.
Bake in a moderate oven, 180°C, for one hour minutes or until turning golden and slightly wobbly in the middle. Check about halfway through, and if you think it needs a little more milk, add away. Serve with brown sugar or a drizzle of honey and/or natural yogurt and/or cream.
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