The Fife Diet was started by Mike and Karen Small, whose tireless efforts have inspired hundreds of people to eat more local produce. They developed a simple concept, called it The Fife Diet and started a revolution!

We are delighted to welcome Mike to our team of regular columnists.

Each month he will share a seasonal recipe to get you starting to “think globally and eat locally.”

It doesn’t sound very glamorous but the humble oatmeal is a much under-rated item.

Alex Wilde and Tonia Lu made this for the Hot Pot Soup & Conversation event in St Andrews in February.

There’s loads more recipes on our website and we’re just completing plans for a series of seasonal recipe books to come out later this year.

Mike

Oatmeal Soup

1 large onion.
1 piece turnip.
¾ pint milk.
1 carrot.
1 leek.
1 oz. oatmeal.
1 pint white stock *
Seasoning.
Chopped parsley.

Put the chopped vegetables in a pan with a little oil and toss them in it until clear.
Add the oatmeal and fry with the vegetables for a few minutes.
Add the stock.
Simmer for an hour.
Add parsley and seasoning.
Just before serving, add the milk and re-heat.

The trick is to finely chop or dice the vegetables…!

* The prep for making white stock differs from that of brown stock mainly in that rather than roasting the bones beforehand, they are blanched instead.