Rachel Visontay's award-winning fig porridge from the Pearly Spurtle porridge-making competition. Photograph: Elias Visontay View image in fullscreen Rachel Visontay's award-winning fig porridge from the Pearly Spurtle porridge-making competition. Photograph: Elias Visontay Australian food and drink Rachel Visontay’s award winning Mediterranean porridge – recipe The Pearly Spurtle champion for creative porridge shares her first-placed fig and olive oil oats
Prefer the Guardian on Google P orridge is often unfairly typecast as bland. Going into the Pearly Spurtle championships , I was keen to prove this stereotype dead wrong. When devising my creative porridge entry, one ingredient was always going to be the star. The fig: treasure of the ancient world, food of the gods, creamy, grassy, sweet, juicy, palate-enveloping, and completely intoxicating.
I am a total obsessive (I even run a fig-themed newsletter ) and here they transform traditional wintery porridge into a bowl of Mediterranean sunshine.
Read more This dish is all about the quality of the ingredients. While any oats will of course do, I use single origin oats from a Victorian farm . Stricter sourcing is needed for fresh tahini to avoid bitterness from jars opened long ago and for finding an olive oil with plenty of guts as opposed to a supermarket drop – I worked with Bottega 1900 , a high polyphenol EVOO that really brings out the best in this porridge.
You can candy the pistachios yourself but, full disclosure, I have fallen in love with those made by a speciality roastery that sells across Sydney and ships nationally. I am not convinced I could replicate their dangerous crunch at home.
Fresh figs are ideal. Use preserved figs if you must, reducing the date syrup to two teaspoons, but avoid the dried variety entirely.
50g steel-cut oats 50g Scottish oatmeal (not instant oats) 850ml water ½ tsp salt 3 generous tbsp tahini 3 ½ tsp date syrup Zest of ½ small lemon Handful of candied pistachios , roughly chopped 2 figs , sliced and then cut lengthways into halves Very good olive oil (eg Oro Di Giano’s San Felice)
Dry toast the steel-cut oats over medium-high heat in a saucepan. Give them a stir every now and then to ensure they aren’t sticking. When you start to smell a nutty aroma, they are done. This should take about 7-8 minutes – too long and they will burn.
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Add toasted oats, along with oatmeal, to a pot, and add all the water plus the salt. Start on medium heat but, once oats reach a simmer, reduce heat immediately. The cooking temperature should be such that the porridge slowly burps rather than bubbles or boils. Stir frequently while porridge is cooking. When the oats are cooked, but still have a slight chew, remove from the heat. This will take about 35 minutes (for the competition, I soaked my oats overnight to reduce the cook time).
Move the porridge to a mixing bowl and immediately stir in the tahini. The oats will become very creamy. Next, stir in the date syrup.
Divide the porridge into two serving bowls. Grate half the zest directly on to the oats – when it hits the hot porridge it releases a fantastic scent. Next, fan the fig slices attractively along one side of each bowl, and sprinkle…