What to do with unloved toasted muesli
"If there is a new fascism, it won't come from skinheads and punks; it will come from people who eat granola and think they know how the world should be." Brian Eno
Which is not really what I am planning to write about here, but I rather liked it. Not that I think people who eat granola are fascists of any kind, but I'm guessing you know what I mean. It's a thing about 'health' enthusiasts I guess.
No - what I was trying to do was to find something interesting to do with granola - well toasted muesli - same thing really. My husband who eats it somehow - I'm not sure how - maybe with his muesli muffin - bought a pack of toasted muesli of a new brand to him, and then decided he didn't like it. So now I have to think of things to do with it. Though why he would eat it in anything else when he doesn't like it how he eats it already I'm not sure.
To begin with I just added some to a crumble that I made with some stoned fruit. And there are other such obvious uses - lots of recipes for slices, cookies, muffins and muesli bars out there. Here are two of the more tempting looking: Rhubarb granola crumble slice from Donna Hay and Grab and go muesli bars from delicious
And I also have a very ancient recipe for an apple cake that includes toasted muesli in the mix. So we'll probably have that some time soon, although maybe with a stoned fruit filling rather than apple because apples are expensive at the moment.
But what I have is a big jar like the one in the picture at the top of the page and I don't really want to have unhealthy cookies and things to have to eat up. Though David himself has already made a big batch of cookies. I might have the occasional one, but not many. Too sweet for me.
So I looked for other more inspirational ideas and I have to say, I didn't really find many. I think the best I found was to sprinkle some over salads, and vegetable gratins, and also to coat pieces of chicken with them and then fry or roast. If your muesli is too large in grain you can crush it up some more - or do as Jamie and make granola dust, which you can then put in a whole lot of things - pancake batter for example.
There are countless recipes for granola itself out there and I heartily agree that you should make your own. It's not difficult and you can put as much or as little of anything in it. Felicity Cloake, as usual, gives a good basic rundown on how to make it. The packet ones often contain stuff you don't like, not to mention healthy doses of bad things like sugar. For shop bought granola is not usually a healthy thing. Not that home made necessarily is either. I even found one recipe that used leftover lollies after Halloween as the main flavour - half of the amount of oats was lollies.
Maybe I should start making toasted muesli for David at home.
"the joy of granola, if there can be such a thing, is when it comes warm and honey-sweet from the pan, the oats buttery and the fruit plump and sticky from the heat rather than cold from the box." Nigel Slater
Which is a rather ambiguous quote - it almost implies there is no joy in granola - not really.
However, I found this quote whilst continuing to find ideas for more savoury things and found that Nigel, in this article had a recipe for Bacon granola. It was a pretty savoury recipe of which he said:
"last weekend I cooked a batch of fat rolled oats in bacon fat, too, with the sole purpose of adding a smoky, salty note to the sweet fruits and nuts of the classic recipe. The result was a luxurious, savoury, sweet, crunchy and extraordinarily fine Sunday breakfast, divested of any healthy, wholemeal connotations. We stirred in a heaped spoonful of crème fraîche at the end to really piss off the food police."
I haven't included a picture because it basically looks like any kind of toasted muesli. But there's an idea for you if you are into granola. I also did see that others added various spices and chilli instead of cinnamon and vanilla.
I had been led to Nigel's recipe as I looked for savoury recipes using ordinary granola. And there really weren't many. Indeed really the only one worth mentioning is Paprika Parmesan granola bars from Delish. But when am I going to eat them?
But I did find one lady who said that:
"You can granolafy almost anything. Since salty and sweet is such a boss combination, adding leftover snack bits and pieces into your granola recipe makes for a delicious and unexpected version." Stacey Ballis - The Takeout
She was talking about leftovers of chips and pretzels and such things after a party and she calls it Bottom of the bag granola
So I'm not really much further with what to do with this leftover granola, other than a determination to give making our own a try. Maybe you could use it as a base for a cheesecake instead of biscuits, or Jamie's granola dust in a sweet pastry for an apple tart with a crunchy granola topping. Yes might try that. Trifles, ice cream toppings - I did see icy poles dipped in granola. But if you've got any bright ideas do tell.
