I made bircher muesli and so can you
My problem with cereal is the crunch crunch. Mornings should be quiet dignified times, not bite sized moments of carnivale. This is why I traditionally gravitate away from the medically approved bowl of frosted sugar flakes and towards other options, perhaps a lightly toasted piece of bread with hummus and fresh slices of tomato, or yellow clouds of scrambled eggs.
Every few months I am struck by the urge for bircher muesli. The combination of oats and fruit and yoghurt makes one feel very fortified and transported to an alpine Swiss sanatorium, just like what I remember from the first few pages of Mann’s incredibly boring Magic Mountain.
Messy but delicious.
The night before—I always feel breakfast recipes that reqire action the night before are a little precious, but bear with it—take an amount of oats. I think 1/4 of a cup is good. Into a mixing bowl add a bit more than 1/8 of a cup of water and the juice of a half a lemon. Stir it all about and then perhaps sprinkle in some more oats or some more water. Put into the fridge and wait staring at the clock until some suitable AM time.
The next day get it out of the fridge. Grate a green apple, skin too. Put the oats into a eating bowl—although if your self esteem was low you could just eat from the mixing bowl, we’ve all been there—and add the grated apple.
Now add a few spoons of some sort of yoghurt. Most recently I’ve been using creamy greek yoghurt which goes very well indeed.
Oh, in the mean time, possibly during your 12 hour wait, roast some hazelnuts (170 for 7 or so minutes) and then try to remove as much of the skins as possible by rubbing them in a tea towel. Roughly crush a few and them put them on your muesli.
Now add some more fruit, perhaps some notblue-blueberries. Then do your signature over the top with honey. Now eat, feel very virtuous, and forget all about that greasy burger you ate the night before. Das ist gut!
