Recipe for quick cherry granola

A recipe by Georgina Hayden from her cookbook Slow.

Georgina Hayden: 'Often the good things in life come about by chance. This recipe is a good example of that. It happened by accident, out of curiosity and a little bit of laziness. Because my husband has a nut allergy, granola and muesli from the supermarket are out of the question. That's why I often make granola with seeds and dried fruit for him. But one morning, after many promises that I had not kept, the jar of granola was completely empty. We did have an abundance of fresh fruit and tasty yogurt at home. So I started improvising and that's how this quick skillet granola was born. And shall I tell you something? This quick cherry granola is deliciously crunchy and gooey, a bit like a granola bar, and easy to make. A great alternative to granola from the oven.'

Ingredients for 4 people

• 1 tablespoon olive oil (or other neutral oil)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 125 g oat flakes
• 50 g dried cherries or cranberries
• 50 g dried figs (or other dried fruit – dates and apricots are also tasty)
• 2 tablespoons mixed seeds (pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds)
• pinch of sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons of liquid honey
• box of mixed forest fruits, to serve
• Possibly:homemade yogurt, to serve, can be found on page 238 in the cookbook Slow.

Preparation
Pour the oil and vanilla extract with a splash of water in a medium non-stick saucepan and place over medium heat. Add the oats and stir together. Place the lid on the pan and heat the oats for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the cherries and figs (or other dried fruit) into equal-sized pieces.

When the oats have softened, remove the lid from the pan and add the seeds. Turn the heat up slightly and roast the oats and seeds for a few minutes. Sprinkle with salt and add the chopped dry fruit and cinnamon. Mix everything together and drizzle with the honey. Heat for 2-3 minutes until it has turned into a golden, slightly sticky granola that is crispy around the edges.

Let cool for a few minutes in the pan and spoon over fresh fruit
yogurt. Or let cool completely and store in a
. until use closed jar.

Slow – Georgina Hayden
This is a recipe by Georgina Hayden from her cookbook Slow (€24.95, Gottmer Uitgevers Groep b.v.). Georgina Hayden has been working with Jamie Oliver for ten years. It is therefore not surprising that she now comes up with her own cookbook. In Slow she has collected her tastiest recipes. The basic principle is:really good food requires attention and time. More recipes and information from Slow can be found in the April issue of Santé.

Source and image:Slow