A new breakfast tradition and a trip

About six months ago I started eating oatmeal. I had tried to get myself to eat it in the past, but despite projecting a "comfort food" feeling onto oatmeal the reality always disappointed. Until recently, oatmeal was always gummy and clumpy, but then I started experimenting with Scottish and Irish oats and I realized that they are completely different from rolled or quick oats. I prefer the Scottish oats because they are smaller than Irish oats and I think they cook in about 7 minutes or less - some directions call for over double that.

I don't think oatmeal needs much sugar. I like it with some milk and either a little sugar (1 tbs for each 1/4 cup of dry oatmeal) or something sweet like a few dried sour cherries. I start my mornings this way with a glass of milk and orange juice.

However, I'm taking a break from this breakfast and for the next month cold cuts, a slice of tomato, bread, and tea will help me start the day because I'm going to be traveling in Poland. I've only been here a few days, but I've already sampled some traditional Polish fare - "Cepeliny z mie snym frazem" and fried flounder with bones and tail served with cabbage, carrots, and fries. I have a few pictures of the Cepeliny z mie snym frazem, which is a meat-stuff potato dumpling, served with onion, melted lard, and cracklings. I liken it to an oversized-gnocchi filled with ground pork, very heavy, but good.

I am going to try to post about my food experiences while I'm traveling, but if my internet access becomes sporadic, I may wait to do a series of posts when I'm back in the states. While I'm traveling the posts will be recipe-free and hopefully a little photograph-heavy.

Scottish Oatmeal
Serves 1
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup dried sour cherries

Put the oats, milk, and water in a small pan over medium heat. Cover and bring to a simmer. Add the cherries. Simmer for 4-6 minutes depending on how soft you want the larger pieces of oats. Remove from heat and stir. Scrape into a bowl and allow to cool a few minutes. You can top with some almond slivers or slices.

Enjoy!

Kumquat Yogurt Cake

As planned here is the recipe that inspired the marmalade making frenzy. It's an adaptation of Clotilde's yogurt cake. The nice thing about this recipe is that it's very easy to make and even if you don't want to try making your own kumquat marmalade you can use store bought (orange, lemon, lime - whatever flavor/brand you like the most).

I wasn't sure exactly how this would turn out when I started, but I made two - one to take to work to share with coworkers and the other to share with my graduate class. Between both cakes I only had one piece left, which was important since I hadn't photographed it in advance.

For those of you that are sick of marmalade posts, this is the last one planned. No promises that it won't make a return appearance in the future though.

Marmalade Yogurt Cake
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups Greek yogurt (I used Fage 2%)
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tbs dark rum

3/4 marmalade

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F and prepare a 10-inch round cake pan (butter and line with buttered parchment).

In a large mixing bowl whisk the eggs to break up the yolks. Add the yogurt and sugar and blend together. Stir in the extracts and rum.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda in another large bowl. Sift half of the dry mixture over the the wet ingredients. Stir gently to combine. When nearly all the dry ingredients are incorporated sift the remaining flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Put the marmalade in the bottom of the pan and spread out almost to the sides of the pan (an offset spatula works great for this). Gently pour and scrape the cake batter over the marmalade.

Move the pan to the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until done. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Let rest for 10 minutes and then invert onto a serving platter/cake stand. Tap on the bottom of the pan to help loosen the marmalade coated bottom. Remove the pan and peel off the parchment (carefully, so that you don't remove the marmalade). If some marmalade does come off with the parchment, just scrape it back onto the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely before serving.

Serving Suggestion:
Combine 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt with 2 tbs of marmalade and stir well. Serve a dollop of this mixture on each slice.

Luxury Breakfast - French Toast

As promised, today's post is going to cover just one of several uses I've found for my kumquat marmalade. About a year ago I started messing around with french toast to figure out my favorite version. After many different variations I think that I've perfected this recipe. However, it should definitely be relegated to "occasional treat" status because it is very rich (but not too sweet).

I found that I prefer a crusty bread with some flavor of its own. That means I usually use a light sourdough or a really good baguette. I vary the amount of sugar based on the bread I'm using - I wrote the recipe below for baguette - when I'm using sourdough I increase the sugar to about 2 tbs. Honestly, I usually don't eat anything on my french toast, not even butter, but I decided to try some kumquat sauce.

I did like the kumquat sauce, but I think I'll continue eating my french toast plain. I also had some left over pineapple from the night before. All in all it was a great way to start the day.


Kumquat Sauce
2 tbs kumquat marmalade
1 tbs water

Stir together and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir again and drizzle over the french toast.



French Toast
4 slices of sourdough boule or 7 slices of baguette, slightly stale
1 large egg
3 tbs cream
2 tbs milk
1 rounded tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 drops almond extract
pinch salt

Break the egg into a bowl. Add the milk, cream, sugar, extracts, and salt. Whisk everything together. Pour into a wide dish. Place any many pieces of bread as you can lay down flat. Let soak for about a minute and then flip over. Let soak for about 5 minutes. Flip over again and then prepare the pan.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium. When the skillet is hot add 1 tbs of butter (real please) and melt until it starts to bubble. Turn the bread over right before adding each piece to the skillet. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan. Cover the skillet with a lid and cook for about 3 minutes before checking the bottoms to see if they're browned and a little crispy. Flip over and cover again. Cook for about 2 minutes.

Plate the french toast and top with whatever floats your boat.