Steel Cut Oats

Photo by Vegan Feast via Flickr.I'm terrible about eating breakfast. Awful. When I wake in the morning, I hit the ground running. I'm lucky if I remember to brew a cup of cinnamon tea, and then I'm lucky if I remember to take the strainer out, and then I'm lucky if I remember to drink it. Good thing cinnamon tea is delicious cold.

But to stop and eat breakfast? Nearly unheard of. My body, however, is beginning to protest. "No breakfast?" it grumbles. "Then no brains." And because I need my body to survive, because I need my brains to write, I have begun to take notice.
I love steel cut oats with a bit of butter, a puddle of syrup, a few islands of fresh berries. What I don't love? Keeping it company as it cooks. I wondered if steel cut oats could be tossed into my rice cooker and forgotten, kind of like cinnamon tea. So I did a little searching on the interwebs, and I found this recipe on Tastespotting. I made a batch this morning (I even remembered to eat it) and it's as simple as it sounds. My husband and I each downed a big earthenware bowl of the stuff, and now I'm hooked. It literally requires two minutes of your time, if you don't count scarfing it down.
 

Ingredients

1 part steel cut oats
3 parts water
pinch of salt for each cup of oats

Directions

Put oats, water and salt in rice cooker. Cook up to half the maximum capacity of the rice cooker, since oats seem to bubble up a lot more than rice.

Press “on.”

Top it with brown sugar and butter, or jam and syrup. Toss in some fruit, a few toasted pecans, maybe a dash of cinnamon, and you've got yourself a delicious breakfast. 

Galette de rhubarbe

Spring means rhubarb, and rhubarb means Galette de rhubarbe, which is just a fancy name for a rustic tart. It's like a pie, but not nearly as fussy. The hardest part is cutting the rhubarb, and waiting for it to bake!

The amount of sugar I used just cut the tartness, so you might want to add just a bit more if you don't like really tart things. We like it to be a bit on the tart side and then we serve it with a good-quality vanilla ice cream, either homemade or Breyers. Serve it warm! It will serve about eight small pieces. The pate brise recipe makes two crusts, so you can either save one for later, or make two at once!

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Galette de rhubarbe

1/2 a recipe of pate brise
2 1/2 cups fresh rhubarb (washed and leaves removed!)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
pinch of cinnamon

Preheat oven the 350F

Roll the pate brise into a 9" round. You can cut off the edges to make it look prettier, if you like, but I like mine with as much crust as I can get, so I leave it on! Place the round onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Mix the rhubarb, sugar (or a bit more, if you want it sweeter), flour and a pinch of cinnamon. Toss it all together to thoroughly coat it.

Heap the rhubarb mixture onto the round of pate brise, and gently fold the edges of the dough partially over the rhubarb mixture. Brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with sugar, if desired.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the rhubarb is soft and the crust is golden brown and crisp.

Serve warm with ice cream.

My Current Obsession: Greek Yogurt!

I recently started a food buying club at our church, and I've already found it to be worth it.

One of the ladies there ordered some Greek Yogurt, and I decided to give it a try. I wasn't sure if about it at first, because I'm a big fan of Stonyfield Farm's Whole Milk Yogurt, but I was willing to give it a shot after my friend's glowing review.

She had described it as almost like the kind of yogurt you get when you strain plain yogurt through a cheesecloth. She was right, but the taste of the plain Greek yogurt is more like tangy sour cream. As a matter of fact, that's how I've been using the plain--like sour cream. We've used it for dipping homemade potato chips, for a replacement for sour cream in cheesecakes, in muffin recipes, and every morning in our scrambled eggs.

For years, I've made scrambled eggs with a couple dollops of sour cream added during the beating process. Last week, I decided to give the Greek yogurt a shot, and the recipe got rave reviews. It adds just a hint of tang and creaminess to the eggs, but the most important thing is that it makes the eggs light and fluffy, and they retain the moisture and warmth much longer.

Here's how it's done...

Scrambled Eggs with Greek Yogurt

6 farm-fresh free-range eggs (if you can get them)
a handful of garden-fresh chives, chopped
2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt (the brand I've been using is The Greek Gods)
A dash of salt
A dash of pepper

Beat the eggs, and then add the chives, yogurt, salt and pepper. You can also toss in just a smidgen (maybe 2 teaspoons) of fresh chopped tarragon.

Heat a cast-iron skillet (or other skillet) and melt a tablespoon of butter, swirling it around to cover the bottom of the pan.

Pour the eggs into the pan and cook over medium heat, scraping the bottom of the pan to make sure the eggs don't stick.

Cook until the eggs are all soft and fluffy.

Serve immediately with English muffins or toast.

You can add the greek yogurt to your other egg dishes, too, like fritattas or omelets.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Asparagus-Mint Frittata

Andrea's Recipes is featuring a food blogging event that celebrates the foods we grow or raise ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products called Grow Your Own. I'm submitting this recipe, the Asparagus-Mint Frittata, which comes from Cook's Illustrated's Best Recipes cookbook. The asparagus, parsley and mint came from my own garden, and the eggs came from my friends, the Stockdales, who raise much of their own foods, including the free-range eggs I used in my recipe.

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Asparagus-Mint Frittata

Blanch the asparagus pieces in salted boiling water for about 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, minced
1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves
1/3 pound fresh asparagus, tough ends snapped off, cut into 1 inch pieces
5 tablespoons freshly-grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
6 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten

Set oven to 350 degrees F.
Heat the oil in a 10" skillet over medium heat, swirling to cover bottom and sides.
Add the shallot and saute until softened, 3-4 minutes.
Add the mint, parsley and asparagus and toss to coat.
Spread asparagus in a single layer.
Beat 3 tablespoons of the parmesan into the eggs, and add the salt and pepper.
Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and stir lightly with a fork until the eggs start to set.
Once the bottom is firm, use a think plastic spatula to lift the frittata edge closest to you, then tilt the pan towards you to let the uncoooked egg run underneath. Level the skillet and redistribute the egg. Cook for about 40 seconds, then repeat the lifting/redistributing procedure until there is no more runny egg.
Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of parmesan on top.
Pop the skillet in the oven and bake until the top is set and dry to the touch, 2-4 minutes.
Invert onto a serving plate and serve warm, at room temp, or chilled.

Taylor's Favorite Banana Bread

This was my daughter's first baking project. At age 8, she was very proud to be able to whip up a batch of her favorite banana bread for the family. Now, at 18, she can make a delicious meal from scratch, but she still comes back to this one when we have some very ripe bananas just screaming to be baked.

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Taylor's Favorite Banana Bread

3/4 cups sugar
1 cup (about two) very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup sour cream or greek yogurt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Grease a loaf pan with cooking spray.
Mix sugar, bananas, oil and eggs in a large bowl. For younger ones, use a wooden spoon. I use a stand mixer.
Stir in remaining ingredients, just until mixed.
Pour into pan.
Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool for ten minutes.
Remove from pan.
Let cool a bit before slicing.
Can also be made as muffins. Reduce time to 25-30 minutes.