As mentioned in the previous post, my friends who run a lovely boutique B&B in Margate have asked me to contribute a dish for their breakfast menu, and this is it.

Lou and Liam opened the doors of The Reading Rooms last year after restoring the amazing grade II Georgian Town House where it’s situated and appearing on Ruth Watson’s Hotel Rescue on Channel 4. It’s a really relaxing and luxurious place. Insanely comfortable beds, stylish decor, beautiful bathrooms and they cook a mean breakfast too. And that’s where I come in.

As well as the full English and pastries on the menu, they’re going to offer this alternative to a warming winter porridge. The oats absorb most of the liquid, becoming lovely and plump, and the apple juice’s natural sugar means no need to add anything extra, unless you’ve got a sweet tooth. I like to serve it with chopped summer berries.

Ingredients (serves 2 / 3)

120g jumbo porridge oats

250ml apple juice

250g low fat natural yoghurt

2 apples, peeled and grated (I like granny smiths, but anything juicy with a bit of tang is good)

Seasonal fruit and honey to serve

Method

Mix together the oats, apple juice and yoghurt together in a bowl or Tupperware container with a lid. Next peel the apples, coarsely grate them and add to the oats. Mix well in, making sure as much of the the grated apple as possible is below the surface of the mixture , this will stop it from going brown. And thats kind of it. Super easy.

As you’ll see, the mixture is pretty loose at this stage, but this will change. Put a lid on your Tupperware or cover your bowl with cling film, and then pop in the fridge for a good few hours or preferably over night. In the morning, the oats will have absorbed a lot of the liquid and puffed up making a much thicker consistency.

Divide the the mixture accross two bowls, and the serve with chopped seasonal fruit, and if required a bit of honey to sweeten.

Healthy, delicious and best eaten overlooking Hawley Square towards the sea.

Things have been a bit quiet at Hand To Mouth towers over the past couple of weeks. The day job has been kind of getting in the way of my other life, but as should be clear by now I was born to eat, so normal service will be resumed soon.

In the down time I’ve been doing a bit of research finding out what people think of the blog, and what they’d like to see more or less of. I got some really good feedback, and there are a few things that I’m going to try and make happen over the next few months.

One is incorporating a bit of video into the site to give a bit more of an impression of techniques, textures and consistencies. A word of warning, I’m not in any way trained, so I  may well lead you astray.

Another was an idea my mate Darren had. He’s suggested I tackle a few recipes from some weird and wonderful cookery books. I’ve got quite a few oddities knocking about at home like Len Deighton’s ‘Action Cook Book‘, so expect to see some throwback grub here soon.

Finally, my friends Lou and Liam who run the lovely Reading Rooms B&B in Margate, have asked me to contribute an item to their already cracking breakfast menu. I’ve got something in mind, it just needs a bit of tweaking, so more on this soon.

Any other comments or suggestions are welcome, so if you’ve got an opinion, please drop me a line.

See you round like a rissole.

(I can’t remember where I found the above image, so I’m sorry to whoever created it. Let me know and I will amend with credit where credit’s due).