I spend time nearly every day reading my favorite blogs and following links on those blogs, widening my circle of "must reads" and filling my Pinterest boards with great new ideas. One of the more "pinteresting" ideas I came across this week was a very easy method for cooking Irish oatmeal. If you haven't tried Irish oatmeal (steel cut oatmeal), I urge you to do so. In my opinion, it bears no resemblance to the mush that is regular oatmeal. It is nutty, has a bit of bite left to it, and provides a healthy, filling breakfast. The downside for me was that it took 30 minutes to make with a bit of attention necessary (stirring to keep it from sticking).
Thanks to my addiction for reading about food, I can now have Irish oatmeal whenever I want and with a minimum of effort.
To make 4 servings, the night before, using a large* saucepan bring 4 cups of water to a boil with a pinch of salt. Pour in 1 cup of steel cut oats and stir. Cover, turn off the heat but leave on the same burner (the residual heat helps cook the oatmeal), and leave overnight. You'll awaken in the morning with nothing more to do than put your serving in a bowl and reheat it in the microwave.
*the large saucepan is to accommodate the continued boil even after the heat is turned off; I didn't use a large enough pan the first time and had spillage all over the stovetop
Aside from delicious oatmeal ready in the few minutes it takes to reheat in the microwave, clean up was a snap since there was no chance of the oatmeal sticking. Some of my favorite add in's are:
chopped apple sprinkled with cinnamon
peanut butter
honey
sliced almonds
This sounds great! I've made overnight crockpot Irish oats, but yours sounds even better! Can't wait to give it a shot.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really clever idea. I've only made steel-cut oatmeal once for that very reason.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, it can't get any easier. Try it! I'm making some tonight.
ReplyDeleteI'm anxious to try your recipe! A friend, who eats a "raw" diet, got me hooked on steel cut oats. Pour some in a flat container, add a big handful of whole raw almonds, frozen blueberries and raw shredded coconut (I omit). Add just enough water to cover and throw it in the fridge over night. Next morning, drain off the water and you have a nutty oatmeal breakfast without cooking all the nutrients out of the oatmeal. You can also add it to greek yogurt or just in a bowl with almond milk like a normal cereal. It's delicious.
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