London - Think of the word porridge and you will probably remember the steaming pile of Jungle Oats served up to keep you warm on the journey to school.
But rather unexpectedly, this most solid of cereals has become a gourmet dish.
Top New York chef Samantha Stephens is championing an exotic range of recipes that use the Scottish oats as their base. She calls her approach Extreme Oatmeal and has a specialty bakery/cafe in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Abandoning traditional toppings such as honey and milk, she serves porridge with pesto sauce, pumpkin puree and bacon.
The menu includes Indian spiced oatmeal with raisins, sliced almonds, coconut milk, crystallised ginger, cardamom, vanilla and brown sugar; and Canadian oatmeal served with bacon, cheddar cheese, roasted apples, maple syrup and sea salt.
But there’s no need to travel to New York to partake in the Extreme Oatmeal trend. Porridge is so simple to make that anyone can experiment with unconventional ingredients. Flavours that suit risotto tend to work well with porridge.
So how about a bowl of mushroom, parmesan and pancetta porridge for breakfast tomorrow? - Daily Mail