Category: oatmeal

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Bread of the Gods

We are very blessed on this part of the island that despite there being no bread bakery within many miles we have two wonderful assets that between them keep us supplied with the Bread of the Gods.

Mallaig Bakehouse bread

The first is the Mallaig Bakehouse on the mainland. The ferry brings its fabulous sourdough loaves over with it three days a week on the morning sailing, and we can buy them at the local community store. You have to be quick though, as they invariably sell out within the first hour of delivery.

I love that the normally sociable neighbours who stop for a chat at the shop tend to make a very determined beeline for the bread baskets to ensure that they’ve scored their purchase before any kind of relaxed blether. Surely the mark of a divine bake..

The second source of our bread gratitude is that of our lovely neighbours Jonny and Beth. Jonny bakes a fabulous sourdough, deeply crusty and satisfying.

Delectably wrapped bread from Jonny

We’ve been fortunate enough to be the recipients of a couple of his bread bakes. They arrive as unannounced gifts, beautifully wrapped in layers of greaseproof paper, neatly secured with twine and rustling with anticipation.

Our latest surprise was a toasted oat loaf, and it was simply delicious. The crust is deeply baked, crackling and savoury, just as we like it best, and the bread is chewy, yeasty and satisfying.

Unwrapped toasted oat sourdough

There is something so warming and fundamental about the gift of home baked bread. As a baker myself I know how much time and love goes into the creation of a sourdough loaf, which makes it all the more wondrous. Its doubly appreciated as I’m unable to bake bread in the caravan.

Great Bread!

Thank you, Jonny and Beth, for being such kind neighbours and for the gift of this most delicious of breads.

I think I’ve found potential use number 456 for the little barn on the croft after restoration. A village bakehouse! What do you think, guys? 😊

Potential bakehouse/coffee/reading/craft room…
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Atholl Brose

It’s that time of year again. I’ve made homemade Atholl Brose.

A wee glass of this in the evening to warm us up is a necessity, I think.

Whisky, honey, oats and cream. Lasts for a week in the fridge – if you can make it last that long 😊.

Recipe here for anyone that fancies giving it a go. Note I only use a half bottle of whisky, just a blended one too, and it’s delicious.

https://foodanddrink.scotsman.com/drink/how-to-make-your-very-own-atholl-brose/

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Chilly morning routines

As winter bites, we are settling into a kind of routine for survival in the caravan.

Our lovely but ancient spaniel was very confused and disorientated by the move to the croft. It’s not surprising really, as he was essentially an urban dog.

Here he forgot his house training and when he did go out, he’d stand in the wind and rain, ears streaming out behind him, rooted to the spot, seemingly not knowing where to go or what to do. He’d taken to leaving puddles on the carpet during the night. Not good.

Husband has been getting up in the wee small hours to let him out, which seems to be working. Bertie (!) is settling into new routines gradually and has even been seen bounding around in the horizontal rain as he accepts this new “normal”.

The mornings are the most challenging of times here. The static is cold from several hours overnight with no heating, often only a few degrees centigrade in temperature, and the bed is at its warmest and most comfortable.

When I can avoid it no longer, I get up. I layer up as swiftly as I can and wrestle myself into a warm robe, trying to expose as little skin as possible. Then it’s through to the tiny kitchen to put the kettle on for a pot of hot coffee to nudge us into consciousness.

Breakfast is my domain.

It’s usually a bowl of porridge with banana and maple syrup, or eggs and toast, or if we have good fresh bread, a butty with local cheddar (that’s a sandwich for those readers not from these shores).

It takes us a few mugs of coffee to get going enough to enjoy joined-up words together and be able to plan the day. By now the temperature is usually up to around twelve to sixteen degrees Celsius and it’s feeling less arctic.

We watch the weather and sip our coffee, chatting about build plans or deliveries for the day. We read the news online but at the moment are more absorbed by our own new, little world as we work together to start to establish our place in it.

It may be like living in the cold wash, fast spin cycle of a washing machine at the moment, but with every day it feels a bit more like home.

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Everything oatmeal

Many years ago, after my first trip to the now famous Three Chimneys Restaurant on Skye, which was run in those days by Shirley Spear, I bought the cookbook of the same name.

It was a beautiful thing. Full of generous recipes from the restaurant and home, scattered with anecdotes of local life on the island. It’s now sadly out of print, although I still have a treasured copy in my boxes ready to be resurrected once I have my cookbook shelves up and running in the new house.

Many of the recipes have become firm favourites when I can get the ingredients, such as Bracadale crab tart and Shirley’s legendary marmalade sponge pudding.

The one that is the simplest of them all, and in many ways the most satisfying, is Skirlie.

There are many derivations of Skirlie in Scotland as it’s an old, traditional food. Shirleys version is simply oatmeal fried with finely chopped onions, butter, seasoning and parsley or chopped chives. In this version it’s shaped into balls and roasted around a chicken like stuffing to add a savoury, crunchy, filling addition to your roast meat.

The first time I ate it I loved it. It was a revelation in its simplicity and its nutty, savoury taste.

I’ve also discovered an interesting blog site called Cailleachs Herbarium which gives the recipe for a fermented oatmeal called Sowans.

This is another ancient recipe, I suspect not produced or eaten very much these days.

With today’s interest in probiotic foods I’m surprised that this homegrown, traditional Scottish version hasn’t become more known. Sowans is similar in its use of live cultures to the yoghurt probiotic drinks that we buy that cost a small fortune.

Maybe with the popularity of oat milk and the known health benefits of probiotic, fermented foods this will come back into fashion?

With husband a lover of ayran, I’m definitely going to give this a try.