OATMEAL

Oatmeal

OATMEAL

An unctuous, warm, stick to your ribs breakfast cereal, made from an easy recipe that can be thrown together in a matter of minutes and eaten with a vartiety of spices, fruits, nuts or just brown sugar.

With all this going for it, why did I avoid oatmeal like the plague when I was little…  I mean to the point that you couldn’t force the spoon down my throat! I think it came down to the texture, which with years and maturity…. I have come to like.

A few TIPS for making oatmeal :

• add the  salt at the end for a creamy texture
• the finer the oats the faster they cook
• heat your bowls
• serve with warm milk
• Scottish superstition – stir clockwise with your right hand to avoid evil

CREPE Recipe

Russian crêpes – I used to think that a crêpe was a crêpes was a crêpe. That was until Katya made me her Russian recipe. While the basic ingredients are the same – flour, eggs, milk and butter, the taste and texture are soooo much better! I am convinced that the secret lies in warming the milk and melting the butter, to which the dry ingredients are then added. The result is an unctuous wonderful batter that makes perfect crêpes.

The second key factors is to be one with your crêpe – out with the spatula and in with your fingers, just be careful not to burn them while slowly peeling back the crêpe to flip it onto the other side. This adds a whole new meaning to hands on cooking!

ALMOND BUTTER

Almond Butter

ALMOND BUTTER : Every once and a while I get a hankering for peanut butter. But I normally put it aside when faced with the astronomical price of Sfr 5 (~$5) for a small 250g jar. In Switzerland peanut butter does not rank amongst the basic, inexpensive food staples  –  it is an imported oddity, that many Swiss people, like my husband, have never tried. The whole idea of peanut butter & jam sandwiches, not to mention banana left him cold. That was of course until he tried it and like the rest of us, fell hopelessly in love with this sticky nutty spread. It makes me think of the film Meet Jo Black when the butler asks him what he would like, ‘just the butter & a spoon?’.

There is another perversity in this whole peanut butter loving situation and that is that it normally gives me a stomach ache. I think it has something to do with the oils they use to make it. Which got me to thinking about making nut butters in general and people with peanut allergies. It must be especially hard on children not being able to eat certain foods and helpful for mothers to have tasty alternatives. Coincidence would have it that I had two packages of whole almonds and a little free time, so I set about making my own almond butter.

Rave reviews is all I have to say. Absolutely delicious! The only issue I ran into was the desire to further reduce the amount of oil used, however the choice was between that and ruining my new blender, so I decided not to risk it. However if you do try this recipe with less oil please let me know how it turns out. I also recommend substituting a little almond oil instead of sunflower, it adds to the almond butter taste, which has a slight sweetness with a hint of sea salt to compliment.

BRIOCHE BREAD

Brioche Bread

BRIOCHE BREAD RECIPE : My mother-in-law has a black-belt in bread making, especially when it comes to her famous Swiss tresse (braided pain brioché). But I am getting ahead of myself and if I am going to tell a story it’s best told from the beginning.

Before I met Olivier’s family, breakfast for me was a non event. It was generally eaten quickly, on the run, out the door to work. So it will come as no surprise to you that a quick fruit, piece of toast or cereal, was all that was on the menu.

My sad petit déjeuner habits were interrupted one Sunday, when I was invited to Olivier’s parents for breakfast. Sweet idea I thought – though someone really should have warned me not to eat for several days before, entering what I can only describe as, a Roman feast…..

GRANOLA

GRANOLA: To be or not to be a breakfast person, that is the question …

I for one used to fall into the latter category… a category reserved for those of us who don’t do mornings… rush out the door like mad women (as if there was time for toast let alone breakfast) and find themselves sitting at their desk before the sun has even risen, sipping on a cup of coffee. Healthy you say…. I think not!!!

It took moving to Geneva and living with my other half – a breakfast fiend, tartine nut, jam addict and general muesli fan… to make me turn over a new leaf or should I say grain.

With breakfast becoming an increasingly important meal of my day, I started paying more attention to the ingredients I was eating…. and was shocked to discover the amount of salt, white sugar & hydrogenated oils that most granola brands add. Something had to be done! So I set to work on making my own healthy recipe.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can personalise it… I use the rolled oats as a base and then add and subtract the nuts, seeds & dried fruits I feel like.