A healthy start to your day: buttered apple oatmeal porridge

Photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the January 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed magazine; plate, mug and bowls by Estonian ceramic artist Marion Isabelle Varik of BlueDesign.

How many of you included "have a proper and healthy breakfast every day" among your New Year resolutions?

I did. In the morning chaos of getting three kids out of bed and dressed and ready, I often end up having breakfast consisting of just a cup of coffee and perhaps a tiny piece of leftover cake or a small tub of yoghurt. Yet that's never enough, and I feel sluggish and peckish by mid-morning already. I know a hot cereal (especially oatmeal) would be the best choice, but I don't really want the basic oatmeal porridge first thing in the morning.

I need to pimp up my porridge, so to say.

There's a great Scottish company, Stoats, that began serving freshly cooked oatmeal porridge at the music festivals and farmer's markets back in 2004, and became a huge success. One of the items on their menu both at the Edinburgh Farmers' Market and at their Meadows porridge bar was Cranachan porridge, or oatmeal served with raspberries, cream and toasted oats. I LOVED that one (there's a recipe on their website!), and this opened my eyes to the possibilities of different and delicious oatmeal. Here's a different "pimped up" porridge, served with buttered spiced apples - just as lovely and delicious.

Oatmeal porridge with buttered apples
(Kaerahelbepuder praetud õuntega)
Serves 3-4

Oatmeal:
250 ml water (1 cup)
250 ml milk (1 cup)
250 ml old-fashioned rolled oats (1 cup)
1-2 Tbsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of grated nutmeg
a pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients in a heavy saucepan and bring into a simmer. Simmer gently over moderately low heat for 7-8 minutes, stirring regularly, until cooked.

Buttered apples:
2 large crisp apples (Granny Smith, Antonovka)
2 Tbsp butter
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of grated nutmeg
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Peel and core the apples, cut into thin wedges. Heat butter on a small frying pan, add apples and sauté gently for a few minutes. Season with cinnamon and nutmeg and continue frying for another 5-6 minutes over a low heat, until apples are nicely soft, but not mushy! Drizzle lemon juice on top, heat through.

Spoon the buttered apples over the oatmeal and serve immediately.

Need more oatmeal inspiration? Check out these recipes:
Oatmeal with peanut butter @ Nami-Nami
Oatmeal with banana and maple syrup @ Nami-Nami
Oatmeal with grated apple @ 80 Breakfasts
Savoury oatmeal with Parmesan cheese @  80 Breakfasts
Steel-cut oats with Muscovado glazed bacon @ 80 Breakfasts
Christmas oatmeal @ 80 Breakfasts
Oatmeal basics @ Kitchen Parade
Peanut butter oatmeal @ Kalyn's Kitchen
Brown sugar roasted fig oatmeal @ Joy the Baker
Whipped banana oatmeal @ Kath Eats Real Food
English porridge and Vanilla bean oatmeal @ Amateur Gourmet
Heavenly oat bran porridge @ Lottie and Doof via The Kitchn
Slow-cooker spiced porridge @ The Kitchn
Chai porridge oats with rhubarb @ Not Quite Nigella

Canapés with mustard-lemon-dill butter and beets

Here's one of the appetizers from our New Year's Eve menu -  a tangy mustard-lemon-dill butter on a slice of dark rye bread, garnished with my old favourite, beetroot. A very Scandinavian flavour combination, it's a great all-year appetizer that packs a lot of character (read: not the ideal accompaniment to your glass of fine champagne, but would go well with some more rustic beverages). The recipe is adapted from the British food magazine's BBC Good Food, more specifically their 2004 Vegetarian Christmas supplement. I made it quite a few times back in Edinburgh, but forgot all about it once I moved back home. But somebody left a comment on my Estonian site after making this canapé - and loving it - and I immediately new it'll be on our festive buffét table soon.

Rye bread canapés with mustard-dill butter and shredded beets
(Tilli-peedikanapeed)
12 to 24, depending on the size of the appetizers

Lemon, mustard and dill butter:
100 g butter, softened
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
2 Tbsp grainy mustard
finely grated zest of 1 small lemon
salt to taste

To serve and garnish:
6 slices of dark rye bread
100 grams of cooked beets, shredded or julienned

Make the compound butter - mix butter, dill, mustard and lemon zest until combined, season to taste with some salt, if necessary.

Cut each bread slice into small triangles or squares or rounds. Spread with compound butter.

Garnish with shredded or julienned cooked beets and some dill fronds, if you like.

Serve immediately or cover and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

New Year's Eve 2012 @ Nami-Nami

We hosted a big New Year's Eve party at our home on December 31st. We were 16 adults and 6 kids in total, so we decided against a proper sit-down meal and went for the buffét instead (known as "Swedish table" or "Rootsi laud" in Estonian). And although many Estonians would be eating pork and sauerkraut and roasted potatoes - our typical Christmas fare - on New Year's Eve as well, we never do and go for a much lighter and rather different dishes. Here's what we were having for the last meal of 2012 (I've provided links to English-language recipes available on Nami-Nami, where appropriate).

Rye bread canapés with mustard and lemon butter, dill and shredded beets:

Crostini with Brie and lingonberry jam:


Red onion "boats" with smetana and salmon roe (which I also served on the last day of 2007):


Soft and sweet dried dates with tangy goat cheese:


Smooth and silky chicken liver paté:


Three layered salads - one with beets, peas, cheese and eggs; one with canned tuna, eggs, regular and cottage cheese; one with surimi, cheese and eggs:
 

Here's the close-up of the beet and cheese and egg and pea salad (you'll find the recipe here; I seem to have served it for the last meal of 2008 as well):
 

Swedish shrimp salad (recipe available here):
 

Fresh sauerkraut salad:
 

We also had fruit on the table, namely grapes and tangerines. Here's our oldest child peeling tangerines that she was kindly offering to all the guests later:  

A very traditional Estonian cake, curd cheese sheet cake with lots of raisins (I needed some raisin syrup to make the chicken liver paté above, so decided to use the cooked raisins in this cake as opposed to wasting them):
 

Mocca cheesecake with chocolate coffee beans:

And here's the star of the night - our croquembouche 2012:

Wishing all the readers of Nami-Nami a happy and successful New Year, full of delicious and satisfying meals!

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New Year's Eve 2011
New Year's Eve 2007