Oatmeal Soup

At some point in the 90s, my wife and I were visiting my grandparents. They lived in a lovely old flat right down on the waterfront at Kinghorn. You can see it on any photo of Kinghorn bay, like this one, lovingly stolen at random from the internet. Their flat was on the first floor, right hand side of the big sandstone building smack bang in the middle of the picture.

Anyway, on this particular day, Gran served us some soup for lunch. It was so good that we asked her to pass on the recipe. At some point, I must have typed it into the computer, because I found it tucked away in a rarely visited directory on my hard drive (yes I keep backups, and yes, they get restored every time I upgrade the computer. I have lots of files dating back to the 90's, most of which will probably never be opened again).

I don't know where she got the recipe - the Sunday Post most likely or maybe Woman's Own - but I've never come across it elsewhere, not even in those Scottish recipe books like "The Scottish Kitchen". The closest I can find is The Fife Diet, but their version uses turnips.

Anyway, it's mostly veg, certainly suitable for vegetarians. The health benefits of oats are well documented. and if you miss out the swirl of cream and use skimmed milk, it's pretty low in calories as well

Oatmeal Soup

Ingredients
60g Rolled Oats
2 Medium Onions (chopped)
1 Large carrot (grated)
60g melted butter
600ml Vegetable Stock
600ml milk
Parsley
Salt
Pepper
Cream

Method
Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the onion and carrot. Sauté for 6 minutes. Add the oats, cook for 4 minutes, stirring until the oats stick. Add the stock, cover and cook on a low heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the parsley, milk and seasoning, bring to the boil and serve with a swirl of cream.