This is a recipe I made up one morning when I wanted to have a nice breakfast but didn’t have a lot around the kitchen. Everything in this recipe can sit on a shelf for months without going bad, which greatly enhances your chances of having the ingredients when you need them. The sugar discs add crunch to the smooth texture of the oatmeal, and as they slowly dissolve will provide pockets of extra flavor.
Ingredients:
Oats – 1 cup per serving
Salt – ¼ tsp for every cup of oats
Sugar – 2 tsp per cup of oats
Cinnamon – ½ tsp per cup of oats
Raisins – ¼ cup raisins, more to taste
Water – portioned per the directions on the oats
Directions:
-Dissolve salt into water and set on high heat.
-Cover an aluminum or steel baking sheet with a layer of heavy duty aluminum foil. Spoon out sugar into a desired shape (circular, strips, etc), 1 tsp. per cup of oats. Using food torch, caramelize the sugar into discs being careful not to burn the sugar. Let cool. After the sugar has cooled, carefully peel away from the aluminum foil. Carefully set aside.
-Once water boils, remove from heat. Combine the oats, remaining tsp of sugar and raisins, mixing thoroughly. Slowly add the hot water to the oat mixture gently stirring until all water is absorbed.
-To serve, portion the oatmeal into bowls and arrange the sugar discs around the oatmeal.
Alternatives:
-For some variety, try using brown sugar instead of white, and experiment with other fruits.
-Dried fruits, such as raisins and dried cranberries work well as they absorb some of the water and thus flavor as the hot water is mixed in.
-The sugar discs add crunch to the smooth texture of the oatmeal, and as they slowly dissolve will provide pockets of extra flavor.
-The salt helps add savory-ness to the dish, but can be lowered or left out if watching sodium intake.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
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2 comments:
I was enthralled until I remembered I was out of my cooking league. A Food Torch! I would have everything but THAT on my shelf. Still, I will think of you when I'm sprucing up an oatmeal dinner this fall. I'm definately in the dried fruit league, at least. And the league which places a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream atop the hot mound, when I'm a few calories short of the day's requirements. *chortle* Thinking of you guys...xo
hahaha...thanksDana. One alternative to using a food torch is to put the sugar (still on the tray and foil) under the broiler in the stove. It's harder to keep track of that way, but very doable. If the worst happens, you have a bit of burnt sugar and you can try again!
I love adding ice cream to hot chocolate. I make it way to hot to drink, and then place a little dollop of ice cream on top. It cools off the hot chocolate nicely as it melts, and then you have some extra cream and flavor in the chocolate. Nothing wrong with that, right ;)
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