Home Cooking with Ruben Lopez Mesa -- Homemade granola
It is well known that the first meal of the day is super important. Your body has been resting for a number of hours and needs to add some fuel to the machine in order to keep going. Breakfast is the moment when you say to your body what to expect for the day.
Each culture has a different approach to breakfast, offering either savoury or sweet options. Here in Australia, we have a couple of cultural offerings that remind us who we are like the smell of vegemite toast (although we could write about how to spread it properly and how much to use), a bowl full of Weet-Kix and the bacon and egg roll that triggers many Australians while they wait for a takeaway coffee.
You know? I've worked for many, many years in different cafes in Sydney and I've always found it fascinating the massive differences in morning habits we all have. Here we eat always on the go instead of sitting calmly; carrying takeaway drinks instead of making them at home. And the incredible amount of money we spend on things that, honestly, we can do easily at home.
I've been very lucky to work in all types of businesses, from really trendy cafes where their offering was completely vegetarian to corner stores where the Aussie classics ruled. As a chef creating my own menus, I used to offer different points of view about what to eat for brekkie and lunch, trying to use local ingredients that were in season. Many of you know me from my time in East Orange where we did such a good job pushing new ways of having breakfast, new flavours, and new dishes.
It was the first time that I started introducing Spanish recipes to Orange, using many of the local products that expensive restaurants were using at that moment for dinner service. We did such a good job that not just our local customers appreciated it, but we also got the attention of many visitors who came to town and gave us amazing reviews. We got great local write-ups, and even SBS came to interview me for the famous 'pumpkin toast' I created full of local ingredients like hummus, roasted pumpkin, caramelised balsamic, local hazelnuts, etc. Simply delicious!
However, one of the things a lot of people always ask me is, what is the difference between a muesli and a granola? Well, the answer to that is very simple: muesli is basically a raw mixture of oats, nuts and seeds and fruit. While granola is baked, so that it gets colour and becomes sweeter and crunchy.
There are many, many ways of doing so, depending on what you use to coat your muesli with. Some people prefer to use maple syrup, others honey. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter, it's totally up to you and your likes or dislikes.
Today's recipe is one of those times when there is not an exact list of ingredients. I'll leave it up to you to follow this basic formula: oats, seeds, nuts, flakes and dry fruits.
Method to make granola:
1. Heat oven to 150C (moderate oven). Mix oats, seeds, nuts and flakes with maple syrup or honey in a large bowl. Stir everything well (tip: leave coconut flakes and dried fruits out for now).
2. Tip the granola mix onto two baking sheets and spread evenly. Bake for 15 mins, then mix in the coconut flakes and dried fruit if you are using some, and bake for 10-15 mins more. Remove and scrape onto a flat tray to cool.
3. Serve it with cold milk or yoghurt, and fresh fruit with different types of acidity, texture, etc.
Remember! Your homemade granola can be stored in an airtight container for up to a month.
Enjoy!