With LG Fashion Week upon us, a well-balanced diet becomes essential to surviving until Denis Gagnon takes his bow on Friday evening. While our moms always stressed the importance of eating breakfast, we’d become bored with our morning bagels and were looking to shake things up.
Steel cut oats are a delicious, healthy and surprisingly versatile breakfast option. Generally, steel cut oats fall into the “sweet” breakfast category, but inspired by a similar recipe in Gwyneth Paltrow’s cookbook we decided to give a “savoury” option a whirl. To our delight, both forms of oats are satisfying and relatively easy to make, which is important when you’re cooking first thing in the morning. We’ll wolf these down each morning this week to keep us fueled for the delightful craziness that is fashion.
Steel cut oats, two-ways – sweet & savoury
Oats (serves 4-6*):
1 cup steel cut oats
3 1/2 cups of water
pinch of salt
Sweet toppings:
brown sugar
chopped almonds
raisins
1/2 cup milk
Savoury toppings:
finely chopped green onions
finely chopped kimchi
soy sauce
sesame oil
Preparation:
1. Rinse the oats in a fine mesh strainer. Add water and oats to a medium-sized sauce pan. Bring water to boil and then reduce heat to medium-low, keeping the water at a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the oats reach your desired consistency. Remember to stir the oats occasionally so they don’t stick to the pan.
2. For sweet oats, stir in about 1/2 cup milk and cook for another 5 minutes. Divide oats into individual bowls and top oats with brown sugar, chopped almonds and raisins. Feel free to add as much or as little as you like.
3. For savoury oats, remove from heat and divide oats into individual bowls. Top with a dash of soy sauce and sesame oil, then sprinkle in some green onions and/or kimchi.
*Make ahead method: You can make the oats ahead of time and re-heat for breakfast another day. Stop at step 1 and refrigerate the leftovers. When re-heating in the microwave, add a bit of milk (for sweet) or water (for savoury) before heating. Then top however you’d like!
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