Winter Spiced Porridge

With maple-caramelised bananas.

I'm not really a breakfast person, mainly because I don't usually get up early enough to warrant having one. My housemate Gemma, however, is the "Breakfast Queen" and manages to make herself a delicious, filling porridge almost every morning. She brought guests, Claudia and Pol, over from Barcelona and this festive, group brekky motivated me to get out of bed before the decent hour of 9!

I learnt a lot during the breakfast. Like some essential Spanish phrases: Sí; Que rico; Mas por favour. And porridge lessons from Gemma like, to avoid a disappointing breakfast, you must include the topping flavours within the actual porridge. Some things I already knew: that Christmas flavours are the best and that there's nothing better than sitting down over food with great company. The language barrier didn't matter in the slightest, we were all too immersed in eating.

Meanwhile, Claudia and Pol got to get a glimpse at a student up before midday and took a look at our advent calendars- not a tradition in Spain.

Ingredients: Porridge

• 4 big spoons of rolled oats per person

• Enough full fat milk to cover the oats and a bit more once in the pan

• 1 banana (mushed)

• 2 tsp cinnamon

• 2 tsp nutmeg

Ingredients: Toppings

• 3 banana's diagonally sliced

• Maple syrup

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp nutmeg

• Granola

Recipe:

1. Measure the oats into a pan and add the milk. Stir.

2. Add the mushed banana, cinnamon and nutmeg and keep stirring over a low heat. If it gets too thick, add a little cold water.

3. Meanwhile, add a drizzle of maple syrup to another pan and add the sliced banana. Leave to caramelise over a low heat, and once brown on one side, flip the pieces over.

4. Put the porridge into bowls, messily arrange the caramelised banana on the top, drizzle a little extra maple syrup and sprinkle with a few pieces of granola.

Serve with:

• Coffee with Crema Catalana (or Baileys if you can't source any in the UK)

• Persimmon (we found ripe ones imported from Spain in a global fruit and veg shop)

Persimmon were recently introduced to me by Gemma and have quickly become one of my favourite fruits. I like them super ripe so the texture is almost like jelly.

Hope you enjoyed your visit (and your breakfast)! x

Que Aproveche!