When I was a kid, I used to eat Quaker Instant Oatmeal almost exclusively for breakfast.  Maple & Brown Sugar was my favorite, but Apple Cinnamon was a close second.  I never cared for oatmeal raisin cookies, and granola was only useful if it included chocolate.  Oats were basically filler, and I never really gave them much thought, so these recipes would be ways to use a historically very versatile grain.

But first, I need to address elephant in the room.  The most memorable part of this episode is the part where Alton makes haggis, and he adopts what can only be loosely described as a Scottish accent.  I’ll be honest, this was one of the recipes I was afraid of making when I started this project, and I’m happy to report that this recipe isn’t in the book.  I don’t have to make stuffed sheep’s stomach!  Hooray!

However, oatmeal totally is.  The recipe is simple, and I hesitate to even call it that.  You combine steel-cut oats, dried fruit (cranberries and figs in this case), water, heavy cream and a bit of salt in a crock pot, and cook it overnight over low heat.  I think either this recipe was made for crock pots that have a Warm setting, or my crock pot runs hot, because I found that the cream burned along the edges.  Still, it was quite nice waking up with the smell of cooked and toasted oats in my apartment, and the amount it made meant I had leftovers for the next few days.

Speaking of toasting oats, the next recipe was granola, and like the oatmeal, this is a very simple recipe.  Rolled oats, slivered almonds, raw cashews, unsweetened shredded coconut, dark brown sugar, and salt are combined in a bowl along with maple syrup and vegetable oil.  The mixture gets put onto a half sheet pan, and spread into a single layer.  It’s cooked in a low oven for an hour and a half, stirred every fifteen minutes.  After it comes out, it’s cooled and mixed with raisins.  I really enjoyed this recipe – granola is stupid easy to make, and the oats tasted like my favorite instant oatmeal flavor, only better!  Definitely making this one again.

Finally, there’s a recipe for an oat drink, refresco de avena.  Of the three recipes in this chapter, this was the one I wanted to try the most, simply because of how odd it was.  Demerara sugar is dissolved in water, and oats, lime peel, and cardamom seeds steep in this sweet liquid for an hour.  The solids are strained, and the beverage is served.  It’s…unusual.  I didn’t hate it, but I don’t feel a need to make it again, and I suspect that the friends I served this to would agree with that statement.

Well, as the philosopher Loaf once said, two outta three ain’t bad.

Next: Quickbread goes French.

Recipes:

Overnight Oatmeal

Granola

Refresco de Avena