A second post today, as its Recipe Redux time again – this month’s challenge is “Green with herb envy” and the idea is to take a green herb and use it in an unusual way. My basil crop is in abundance at the end of our Indian summer and as the days grow colder in the southern hemisphere, I want to harvest it up for the winter months. I’ve previously posted my recipe for Berry Basil Ice-cream and of course there’s always pesto. But an incredibly interesting field trip this week gave me new inspiration.
You see I’ve been on an very educational media tour hosted by Uncle Tobys and CPW. My lovely friends, dietitians Catherine Saxelby (middle) and Joanna McMillan (right), were guests too and the source of many giggles along the way, as we tried to sound super intelligent and look super glam. We were taken through the whole paddock to plate process, starting with oat grains and breeding programs. And talked ins and outs of sweetened vs non-sweetened cereals – but more on that next week.
We heard about the important research and development going on to make sure Australian’s have locally grown oats for years to come. It’s very easy to take something for granted, when it’s always right under your toes.
But things aren’t always as they seem and oat supply doesn’t always stretch as far as the eye can see.
At the moment oats are still grown locally within three hours of my major city, in the Rutherglen region of Victoria. But there is a huge amount of time and dollars invested to make sure it’s kept that way and incentivise farmers to grow multi not mono crops.
So of course I wanted to create a new recipe with oats for oatmeal or porridge as we say. And of course I wanted to capture the last of summer and my basil. So I welcome you to try my modern day, convenience version of poached stone fruit with basil on porridge. I just love the way the nectarines match the Rutherglen soil!
Shake and Make Summer Basil and Vanilla Nectarine Porridge
Serves 1 – Ingredients
1/2 sliced, ripe nectarine or peach
1 tsp linseeds
1tbsp natural, sliced almonds
6 torn basil leaves
Seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod (scrape with knife)
Stevia or brown sugar as desired
Method:
Take a cellophane bag and add all ingredients.
Shake. Seal. Freeze.
Remove. Microwave or sous vide for 1-2minutes to poach the fruit.
Serve – on top of a bowl of warm, comforting oats for summer-in-winter morning bliss.
