How I long to sit and have porridge with my best childhood friend, Jules. We tend to talk for so long that entire days slide by when we’re together. At her charming house outside of London, our kids played in the garden, our spouses talked sports and fish n’ chips, and inside, we laughed about old crushes newly found on Facebook and issues in parenting.

We tend to think of porridge as only a breakfast food, but if we let the recipe unfold, it can be savory (or savoury) like a risotto.  Think of textures – crunchy sunflower seeds, salted pepitas, or melted cheese, or sweet – but not overly so – chopped apricots, porridge studded with bits of candied ginger for extra heat, coconut and sliced banana for long winter nights. With lots of cooking coming up for various holidays, it’s comforting to have such a filling, delicious, easy, inexpensive dish ready for whatever meal I want.