It's citrus time! We've got weeks of winter to go, and it's pretty cold down here in southern Victoria - not like snowy Winter cold like y'all get in the far north of this big Earth of ours, but cold for us. Yet just as we're freezing, the citrus are ripening. Lemon trees are ubiquitous in Australian backyards - huge spheres of happy yellow or other varieties that are more oval or pointed. The kumquats too have their small orbs of bitterness just waiting to be made into jam and I usually go begging for them - both marmalade and cumquats are an acquired taste. My lime tree too is finally dropping limes, with the smaller ones ready to grow into the warmer weather to be squeezed into mojitos or soda water. There's also other cheer in the garden too - huge yellow and orange marigolds grow all year around here, so even when everything is dull and grey and misty, the calendula has the power to make you smile.
I adore this poem by John Kinsella, about a farmer and his citrus grove. Everything revolving around the harvest.
And thus the citrus become my spheres of influence, cooking wise, at this time of the year. Squeezed in stir fries. Grilled on top of salads. Added to deserts. Made into jams and marmalades. Or, simply squeezed into water - a refreshing drink when you're out in the garden.
Of course, citrus makes good medicine - not just for the spirit, but it's Vitamin C content as the immune system pushes us through the colder weeks. Marigolds too are great natural medicine - I've been drying them and soaking them in oil for balms and salves as well. The more I pick, the more they grow, and I sprinkle the seeds around to continue the cycle. I love going into the garden and finding ingredients to make my dinners - and breakfasts. Whilst hubby is a vegemite-toast-for-breakfast die hard, I love my porridge in winter, whatever the grain and whatever the topping, with lashings of maple syrup. I've been filling big bottles of it at Wholefoods rather than buy the tiny bottles from the supermarket - it's both economically worth it AND given our recycling is currently going to landfill, a necessity. We've reduced our plastics a ton - if only others would stop complaining about the fact our recycling is going to landfill and instead re-use or don't buy at all!
Anyway, back to porridge!
Orange & Turmeric Porridge
1 cup of fresh orange juice
1 cup of coconut milk
1 cup of oats, quinoa or rice flakes
1 tsp of turmeric
Cook porridge, add maple syrup to taste. Sprinkle with toasted coconut and marigold leaves.
And then there's rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb - the winter fruit that's not a fruit. It's fabulous stewed and no co-incidence your grandmother probably stewed it with oranges, given they are ripe around the same time. This time I stewed mine with the juice of two limes adding them to a porridge cooked with water and coconut milk, and sprinkling with toasted almonds and a sparse sprinkle of lime zest.
Hubby can keep his vegemite on toast. I like to be a bit more creative with my breakfasts.
What's your favourite porridge recipe? Are you looking forward to winter, or hoping it will go away, wherever it is you are in the world?
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