Pinot, Bretzels, and Cathedrals

Muesli as a breakfast cereal here in Strasbourg is not tres popular.  Certainly the shelf space dedicated to it is a quarter of that which is would take up in South Africa.  That which you can find is often very expensive and most definitely not value for money.  The same goes for German Muesli.  In fact, the German variety is pretty darn gross, and the box we bought 2 months ago lasted far too long.

Last week, once we had returned to school and I had a little more space at home, I sorted my kitchen cupboards, and stumbled upon a packet of Bio Oats. (Bio refers to its organic nature.)  The oats had found their way into my food packets when we moved out of the ‘heim, and we just haven’t had the desire to cook them for breakfast.  (Would you, if you could eat Almond Croissants or Baguette, Brie and Black Forest Ham for Breakfast every day?)

I was staring at this packet last week, trying to find inspiration in it, possibly to make a batch of my ‘Jungle Oats Peanut Butter Biscuits’ (from a recipe discovered on the back of a box of Jungle Oats), when I found myself contemplating a recipe we used to make while I worked in the Production Kitchen at the (then) Great Eastern Hotel, London.

A delicious batch of oats, hazelnuts, and dark treacle-y sugary syrup, among many other ingrediants, the ‘granola’ was not easy to make, and as delicious as it was, I never put my hand up to throw it together- there is something about melting sugar to a specific temperature that leaves me shy.  I do remember writing the recipe into my notebook, which did manage to come back to South Africa with me in 2003, but where it went after I left The Michelangelo, I am not sure- possibly stolen along with my knives when my car was broken into in 2007.

However, a missing recipe is the least of my worries at this stage in my life, with Google at my fingertips, as well as a healthy dose of experience in the culinary field of expertise.

So now that I have decided that Muesli was the answer to my oats conundrum, I Googled Muesli Recipes, and decided on a recipe that came from some Australian website (aren’t the Ozzies super conscious about sugar intake, and fibre content?)

With a little bit of tweaking I came up with the following that I am happy to share with you, although in South Africa you will probably shy away from the amount of hazel nuts and almonds, which are almost like peanuts here in France.  You can replace the nuts with Pecan nuts and perhaps unsalted Cashews, but steer away from peanuts.

Ozzie Muesli

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of      rolled oats
• ¼ cup of      sunflower seeds
• ½ cup of      slivered almonds
• ¼ cup of      hazelnuts
• ½ cup of      desiccated coconut
• ½ cup of      honey
• 1 ½ tbs of      canola oil  (I just used Sunflower Oil as I am not a     fan of the taste and smell of Canola Oil)
• ½ cup of apricots, roughly chopped

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat the      oven to 150°C.
2. Heat the      honey and vegetable oil in a small saucepan over a low heat. Gently simmer      for 4 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in      a large bowl combine the rolled oats, the nuts, the seeds and the coconut.
4. Add the warm      honey mixture to the bowl and stir well to coat the dry ingredients.
5. Spoon the      oats onto a large rimmed baking sheet and spread out.
6. Bake the      ingredients for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Remove from      oven and allow it to cool. Add the dried fruit and stir to combine.
8. Store muesli      in an airtight container for up to a month.

This Muesli is really tasty, not very sweet, and I have discovered the perfect filler to put into a batch of Koekie’s Gorgeous and Famous Rusks. 

Sadly now I have no more muesli to eat for breakfast, but I do have a very yummy batch of my mother-in-laws rusks, and in an effort to not actually eat the entire batch myself, which no amount of morning running will knock off, I have handed them out to the Flurer’s, as well as Anton’s office.  The Europeans at OCD think they are delicious, although they don’t quite get the idea of dunking them in coffee or tea.  As for the Flurer’s, young L is in heaven, and I’m pretty sure his South African Gran is super impressed at her young European grandson and his affinity for South African treats.

The French might be set in their ways, and determined to keep their culture and heritage within its boundaries, but I am even more determined to get them to see the treats of us South African’s, one little rusk or stukkie biltong at a time!