Porridge

Obviously there is not much difference between porridge made on a woodstove and porridge made elsewhere. Indeed I am even prepared to allow that porridge can be conveniently made in the microwave. But there is something so soothing about making it extraordinarily slowly on the woodstove (as the stove cranks up the heat following its overnight slumber) that I feel it is worth mentioning.

I still have some supplies of oats brought from Blighty on my last trip but I discover that it is also available at vast expense in the "English section" of the supermarket. Yes, we have our own section, with marmalade, custard powder, marmite and other such exotica.

This is my favourite kind:

Mainly because it's so cheap.

Also I am including porridge to show that peasant cooking isn't restricted to funny foreigners - it's alive and well in the British Isles. But here in France us peasants are very well catered for. For example, there is not a single house in this village which doesn't have its allotted vegetable plot. Not always attached to the house, but always with a few fruit trees, maybe a few vines, a place to store tools and wood and a water supply. Some of us even have a piece of woodland for our fuel supplies, too.

Anyway, back to porridge. I make mine with water as I don't like cow's milk, I use only a tablespoonful of oats to half a pan of water and I simmer it so slowly it hardly seems to be cooking at all. The stove is hotting up with the first oxygen intake of the day and a nice fresh log added to the night watchman, meanwhile I check my email and drink coffee.

You can add some other superfoods too, I like flaxseeds (added with the oats) and blueberries (added later). If you buy frozen blueberries it is surprisingly economical. Also they turn the porridge a pleasing and unexpected imperial purple.