Breakfast whatchamacallit

Oatmeal porridge is a traditional Swedish breakfast, and something my mother eats almost every day, as did her parents. Personally I can't stand its weird consistency and mealy flavour. We had to make it in home ec class in school, and to "make it more appealing" we were allowed to put like one tiny spoon of jam or applesauce on top. Yeah, still not appealing, thanks. Or like when we made our own müesli, which mostly consisted of oats, but could be "sweetened" with one teaspoon of raisins. Do you know how many raisins you can fit in a teaspoon? The anwer is about three, which is not nearly enough to make "müesli" made of dry and flavourless oats any sweeter. Now I'm digressing into rants about the making-people-hate-cooking-disaster which was home ec, so let's get back on track.

My distaste for oatmeal porridge - and dry oat-based müesli - aside, I do like to put oats in other stuff, like bread and cookies. And when I found a recipe for oatmeal breakfast clafoutis over at Clotilde's Chocolate & Zucchini, I was very intrigued, especially since the recipe contained the stuff that goes so well with oats in cookies: brown sugar, raisins and cinnamon.

I have never eaten a real clafoutis (but I need to, since I hear they are traditionally made with my favourite berry: cherries), and I don't know how I would categorize this dish. It's not a chewy bar, it's not a cake. My first thought when taking a bite was that the consistency was similar to that of "ugnspannkaka" (which is a traditional Swedish thick pancake made in the oven), but I'll go along with Clotilde and call it clafoutis. It's a bit too sweet for me to be a breakfast dish, but it's great as part of a brunch or, as I ate it today, a late morning snack together with a cup of tea. You can use different fruits and berries, dried or fresh (Clotilde's recipe has apples), and also add unsalted nuts.



Oatmeal-raisin and banana clafoutis
Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini

2 3/4 cups oats (not the quick-cooking kind)
2/3 cups brown sugar
3/4 cups raisins
1½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cardamom
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of salt
3 1/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1 banana, thinly sliced

Combine the oats, sugar, raisins and spices in a bowl. Whisk together the milk and eggs. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour the mixture into a lightly oiled baking dish, about 22*33 centimeters (9*13 inches). Place the banana slices on top. Bake in a 180°C oven for 55-60 minutes until the center is set and firm to the touch. Eat while still a bit warm.

I got 12 squares out of this. I saved one in the fridge for tomorrow morning, and wrapped the rest individually in foil and froze them. They can be thawed in the fridge overnight and then reheated carefully in the oven next morning.