Py Cooks: Porridge

Me-ee-ee and mr, mr porr’ge, we got a thing going o-on
We both know it’s wrong, but its much too strong to let it go now

The porridge of my dreams

February. The month of luuurve. Now remember what I said on Friday? Recently porridge and I have been very much into each other. So much so that, like any other true love, I can’t get through the day without it. Honestly. I simply can’t get my brain moving without it. No porridge = no Py.

This level of fever pitch has been reached by my discovery of peanut butter and jam porridge. A spoonful of peanut butter stirred through the gooey oats, with a dollop of strawberry jam on top. Morning glory.

You will need…

Note on the recipe:

This recipe calls for ‘cups’. This is not meant in the american sense, but rather in the sense of proportion. For my ‘cup’ I use a very small chinese tea cup. As for spoons, that’s up to you; feeling healthy use a teaspoon, feeling frivolous use a tablespoon.

When it comes to oats, it really is a case of the bigger the better. I am not interested in oat dust, only proper jumbo oats.

Obviously this is not the only way to eat your porridge. If you fancy something else (I love grated apple and cinnamon too), just follow the basic recipe (oats, water, milk, sugar and salt) and add your own flavourings.

Good big porridge oats

Two spoons are better than one

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of oats
2 cups of (skimmed) milk
1 cup of water
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of brown sugar
1 spoon of peanut butter
1 spoon of jam

RECIPE

Place the oats, liquids, salt and sugar in a pan, and place over a medium heat.

Stir occasionally, and simply wait for the oats to soak up the liquid and become gooey, rather than watery. The time this takes depends upon the oats used.

Once you reach the gooey stage, add your peanut butter and stir through.

Dollop the porridge into your bowl, and dollop the jam on top.

Enjoy!

What are your favourite ways with porridge? And what are you just loving at the moment?

Py xxx

Py+Brownies

Call me neurotic (and you wouldn’t be the first), but I just can’t bear to have a visitor in my house without any home baked sweetness to offer them. Now, in the name of the New Year I decided that I was going to let things like this slide. Don’t sweat the small things and all that. So, when I heard that my wonderful Mum was coming to London town for a brief visit, I decided that I was going to draw the line at the homemade pizzas for the night in with the kitten, the restaurants and afternoon teas that were booked, and the undoubtable lattes and treats of a day shopping. That would be enough, I told myself. Until the Friday morning, at least. At that point, roughly two hours before I was due to meet my Mum, I panicked, flapped and caved in. I made brownies.

Now my go-to brownie recipe is one that I have mentioned in brief many times before (found here), however that one calls for raspberries. In a mad rush, in the centre of snow-halted London, these were quite simply out of my desperate grasp. So I improvised, making these with what I had in the house. My Mum would call it ‘living off my hump’. The result was pretty damn nice, even if I say so myself.

Notes on the recipe:

Peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in heaven, but they are not the moistest of combos; these brownies are at their best soft, juicy and slightly undercooked. Don’t overcook these brownies: they are done as soon as their top is crisp and cracked, but a knife inserted does not come out clean.

For lack of alternatives (my house is where tins go to die) I used the glass lid of a pyrex dish to cook these. A square or rectangular tin would work just the same, if not better.

What you’ll need…

Just right…

INGREDIENTS

140g chocolate (milk or dark; I used a mix)
115g butter (I like to use salted)
225g caster sugar
170g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
170g peanut butter (I like crunchy, but it’s up to you)
3 large eggs (whisked, ideally)

Maybe I didn’t bother whisking my eggs. Do as I say, not as I do.

mmm…melting goodness

RECIPE

Oven on to 170C / gas 3; line your tin with baking paper

Put your chocolate, butter and sugar into a pan, and melt together over a low heat.

Meanwhile (whilst keeping an eye on your chocolate mix) sift the flour and baking powder together in a large mixing bowl, and create a well at the centre.

Add the peanut butter to the now melted chocolate mix, and stir together.

Pour the chocolate mixture and the eggs into the flour and mix well (making sure to get rid of any floury lumps).

Pour the mix into the prepared tin; place in the prepares oven and bake for around 20 minutes.

Let the brownies cool in the tin, then cut into generous squares.

Enjoy.

Nearly time to eat them

Eat me!

What are your fave brownie recipes? And what is your best store cupboard invention?

That’s all for now,

Py x