While I enjoy oatmeal – both as a breakfast option and on a purely existential level – it’s not the most…exciting meal in the world. You can dress it up with apples, bananas, cinnamon, brown sugar, almonds, dried cranberries or coconut all you want, but eventually, oatmeal gets boring. Eating it becomes an exercise in conspicuous virtue rather than enjoyment. The prospect of yet another bowl of the stuff becomes increasingly daunting.
It was while in the grip of this state of mild aversion and incipient loathing that I hit upon an idea: fried oatmeal. Instead of heating up a pot of oats and sticking them a bowl, I decided to carve off a slice or two of leftover oatmeal and cook it up in a skillet. As with the beefy beans recipe I mentioned a while ago, thinking about this basic recipe in a slightly different way yielded an interesting – and tasty – result.
Fried Oatmeal
(serves 4-5)1 recipe steel cut oatmeal (1 cup steel cut oat groats, 4 cups water, 1/2 cup half and half [optional] hefty pinch of salt; bring to a boil, then simmer 35-40 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed by the oats), transferred to a rectangular storage container and allowed to set up overnight into something with a loaf-like consistency.
For each serving, you will need:
1/2 apple, diced
1/2 banana, quartered and sliced
1t butter
1t brown sugar
cinnamon to taste
Slice the oatmeal loaf into two 3/4-inch sections per person.
Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Coat the pan with a quick hit of nonstick cooking spray. Add the oatmeal slices to the hot pan. Cook 5-7 minutes on a side, or until toasted brown in color. Remove the cooked oatmeal slices to a serving plate.
Return the pan to the heat and add the butter. Once it has melted, add the apple and banana, followed immediately by the brown sugar and cinnamon. Saute 2-3 minutes until the fruit has heated through and softened. Serve this warm “compote” over the top of the oatmeal slices.
The result is something a bit like a flourless bannock or a thicker and moister oatcake. The pan-frying treatment browns and crisps the surface of the slice, which gives it a toasted, nutty flavor. The sautéed fruit provides traditional oatmeal accompaniments, and serves as a way to add a little sweetness to the otherwise neutrally-flavored oatmeal.
*Someday, The Kid will hear the song “Jungle Love” by Morris Day and the Time, and she will be terribly confused.
