Oat Me
February 4, 2012 1:35 PM Subscribe
Do you have tried and true recipes using steel cut oats?
I bought a big bag of Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oats several months ago, thinking I would be eating super-healthy breakfasts of long-cooked oatmeal. In reality, this is a time-consuming daily habit that is not going to take because when I wake up I can just not convince myself that what I want to eat is oatmeal.
What other things can I cook with the oats? I like plenty of oat recipes. The difficulty is that these are chunky, long-cooking, not rolled, oats, and so they won't just swap out for rolled oats in most recipes.
I bought a big bag of Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oats several months ago, thinking I would be eating super-healthy breakfasts of long-cooked oatmeal. In reality, this is a time-consuming daily habit that is not going to take because when I wake up I can just not convince myself that what I want to eat is oatmeal.
What other things can I cook with the oats? I like plenty of oat recipes. The difficulty is that these are chunky, long-cooking, not rolled, oats, and so they won't just swap out for rolled oats in most recipes.
Do you like oatmeal at other times? I totally get the whole "I just woke up and x food just seems gross" but if you find it appealing once you get going cooked steel cut oats actually freeze and reheat very well, so you could use them as a mid-morning snack or something instead.
posted by brilliantine at 1:50 PM on February 4, 2012
posted by brilliantine at 1:50 PM on February 4, 2012
Seconding the crock pot, and yeah you can reheat it and so forth.
posted by The otter lady at 1:54 PM on February 4, 2012
posted by The otter lady at 1:54 PM on February 4, 2012
This pumpkin steel cut oats recipe is delicious. If you haven't already looked, McCann's has recipes at their site, but I can't vouch for any of them.
posted by crush-onastick at 2:03 PM on February 4, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by crush-onastick at 2:03 PM on February 4, 2012 [1 favorite]
I like to make Thermos oats - basically, fill a Thermos with the proper proportions of oats and boiling water, leaving absolutely no room for air, and overnight (or the course of a day) your oats will cook themselves and, upon opening, they are so tender and delicious (and still piping hot) you won't believe it. AND you'll look forward to them more than you would regular oatmeal (at least I do) because the process is so miraculous.
posted by dirtdirt at 2:04 PM on February 4, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by dirtdirt at 2:04 PM on February 4, 2012 [5 favorites]
Here's a link: Cooking Steel Cut Oats in a Thermos.
posted by dirtdirt at 2:05 PM on February 4, 2012
posted by dirtdirt at 2:05 PM on February 4, 2012
I've been told by past roommates that this is gross, but it was my favorite breakfast for a long time, so YMMV.
The night before, combine in a bowl: one part steel cut oats, two to three parts greek yogurt, a glug of dairy, and sweetener/odds and ends to taste (e.g. a teaspoon of brown sugar, a handful of raisins). Stir well and refrigerate.
In the morning, the oats will be soaked to an edible texture and be combined with the yogurt in a delightful porridgey texture.
So. Good.
posted by telegraph at 2:30 PM on February 4, 2012 [2 favorites]
The night before, combine in a bowl: one part steel cut oats, two to three parts greek yogurt, a glug of dairy, and sweetener/odds and ends to taste (e.g. a teaspoon of brown sugar, a handful of raisins). Stir well and refrigerate.
In the morning, the oats will be soaked to an edible texture and be combined with the yogurt in a delightful porridgey texture.
So. Good.
posted by telegraph at 2:30 PM on February 4, 2012 [2 favorites]
You can also make regular oatmeal for breakfast in a microwave! Using real oatmeal, not the nasty instant kind! You will probably need to experiment with your own microwave as to the timing, but what I do is:
add raisins to a bowel
2/3 cup regular steel-cut oats
1 cup of liquid (either water or skim milk or part water/part milk)
cook at 50% power for 9 minutes
(putter around the kitchen making coffee and emptying the dishwasher for 9 minutes)
eat oatmeal with sliced banana and more skim milk
I generally put the bowel on a dinner plate and cover it in case little boils over.
posted by easilyamused at 2:34 PM on February 4, 2012 [1 favorite]
add raisins to a bowel
2/3 cup regular steel-cut oats
1 cup of liquid (either water or skim milk or part water/part milk)
cook at 50% power for 9 minutes
(putter around the kitchen making coffee and emptying the dishwasher for 9 minutes)
eat oatmeal with sliced banana and more skim milk
I generally put the bowel on a dinner plate and cover it in case little boils over.
posted by easilyamused at 2:34 PM on February 4, 2012 [1 favorite]
I've done both the thermos and crockpot methods.
Thermos: It is imperative that you preheat the thermos by put boiling water in it, screwing on the lid and leaving it in there for 5 minutes. Then dump that out and quickly add the oats and water cooking liquid. I've done it more then once where I didn't preheat my thermos and ended up with undercooked and inedible oats.
Crockpot: For all that is holy and good, line your crockpot with those little crockpot liners. My crockpot runs a little hot, and the first time I made oats in it.. I was scrubbing burned oats off the insert for DAYS. I swore it would never come out and eventually had to tackle it with baking soda and vinegar. Which was the only way it was coming off. What's the phrase. Learn from my fail.
As for serving it.. I just add peanut butter or nutella after it's cooked and stir really well. I'm not a fruit person.
Also, consider savory oatmeal. I've always wanted to try adding cheese.. but I'm not brave enough.
posted by royalsong at 2:36 PM on February 4, 2012
Thermos: It is imperative that you preheat the thermos by put boiling water in it, screwing on the lid and leaving it in there for 5 minutes. Then dump that out and quickly add the oats and water cooking liquid. I've done it more then once where I didn't preheat my thermos and ended up with undercooked and inedible oats.
Crockpot: For all that is holy and good, line your crockpot with those little crockpot liners. My crockpot runs a little hot, and the first time I made oats in it.. I was scrubbing burned oats off the insert for DAYS. I swore it would never come out and eventually had to tackle it with baking soda and vinegar. Which was the only way it was coming off. What's the phrase. Learn from my fail.
As for serving it.. I just add peanut butter or nutella after it's cooked and stir really well. I'm not a fruit person.
Also, consider savory oatmeal. I've always wanted to try adding cheese.. but I'm not brave enough.
posted by royalsong at 2:36 PM on February 4, 2012
Best answer: It's not just for breakfast! Think about them like any other kind of grain; they go great in a stew, e.g with some onion, garlic, spinach, vege stock and topped with some natural yoghurt and/or cream for example.
Also, I often make up a kind of bircher muesli; soaking them overnight in milk and yoghurt, along with almonds, craisins, my regular mueslie mix etc softens them more than enough. :)
posted by smoke at 2:42 PM on February 4, 2012 [1 favorite]
Also, I often make up a kind of bircher muesli; soaking them overnight in milk and yoghurt, along with almonds, craisins, my regular mueslie mix etc softens them more than enough. :)
posted by smoke at 2:42 PM on February 4, 2012 [1 favorite]
To circumvent the cooking-time problem, we cook a week's worth of steel-cut oats on Sunday evening and just keep them in the refrigerator. It only takes two minutes to heat up a serving in the microwave. We then top with whatever we feel like -- milk or yogurt to help re-liquify, and then chopped nuts and dried fruit, or fresh fruit, sometimes some maple syrup, generally some flaxseed meal. We also went through a savory oatmeal phase, which may soon make a comeback in our house.
posted by indecision at 2:50 PM on February 4, 2012
posted by indecision at 2:50 PM on February 4, 2012
Response by poster: Thanks for the pre-cooking suggestions; I did know about that, but the issue is it's not what I want to eat in the morning -- so let's assume I just don't ever want to eat it as oatmeal.
posted by Miko at 2:57 PM on February 4, 2012
posted by Miko at 2:57 PM on February 4, 2012
I haven't actually done this, but what if you toasted them in a dry pan and then cooked them like you were making risotto? Use stock instead of water, add a little wine, let a rind from a wedge of Parmesan hang out in there for a while, maybe some good mushrooms, some asparagus... Maybe?
posted by rtha at 3:13 PM on February 4, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by rtha at 3:13 PM on February 4, 2012 [3 favorites]
Fried oatmeal! Make a big pot of oatmeal and then pour it into a tray to set in the fridge overnight. Once it's solidified nicely, cut into slabs and fry. As with fried polenta, you can serve it as a savoury starch (with stews, bangers and gravy etc) or as a dessert, with fruit or syrup.
posted by hot soup girl at 3:24 PM on February 4, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by hot soup girl at 3:24 PM on February 4, 2012 [4 favorites]
In my neck of the woods, this is what we use steel cut oats for:
goetta
We use all pork, but we make a huge amount and there is no recipe really. Boil pork shoulder, pull meat apart, put back in pot, add oats, cook, pour into large rectangular dish and refrigerate. Slice. Fry in bacon grease. Eat on buttered toast. Die young, but happy.
(feel free to add onions and other stuff)
posted by Mittenz at 3:58 PM on February 4, 2012 [3 favorites]
goetta
We use all pork, but we make a huge amount and there is no recipe really. Boil pork shoulder, pull meat apart, put back in pot, add oats, cook, pour into large rectangular dish and refrigerate. Slice. Fry in bacon grease. Eat on buttered toast. Die young, but happy.
(feel free to add onions and other stuff)
posted by Mittenz at 3:58 PM on February 4, 2012 [3 favorites]
If you eat bacon, this oatmeal-leek soup by Jacques Pepin is outstanding and almost entirely non-reminiscent of breakfast. (If you don't eat bacon, a dash of smoked paprika is nice.)
posted by Lexica at 4:13 PM on February 4, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Lexica at 4:13 PM on February 4, 2012 [2 favorites]
I haven't tried it but I bookmarked this recipe for Kimchi Oatmeal. On Tastespotting they did a month long experiment with a new oatmeal dish a day--you may find some good ideas there.
posted by biscuits at 7:52 PM on February 4, 2012
posted by biscuits at 7:52 PM on February 4, 2012
yes steel oat risotto. It is so good!
posted by en forme de poire at 10:27 PM on February 4, 2012
posted by en forme de poire at 10:27 PM on February 4, 2012
In my excitement I neglected to type "cut."
posted by en forme de poire at 10:27 PM on February 4, 2012
posted by en forme de poire at 10:27 PM on February 4, 2012
Make oatcakes! Excellent topped with your choice of cheese.
posted by brujita at 3:40 AM on February 5, 2012
posted by brujita at 3:40 AM on February 5, 2012
(If anyone's discovering cooked oats amazing ability to glue themselves to any cookwear, you need to know that it just lifts off if you soak it in cold water. Give it a couple of hours. Trust me; it's a Scottish thing.)
posted by scruss at 7:01 AM on February 5, 2012
posted by scruss at 7:01 AM on February 5, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
When you wake up, if you're like me, you won't have much trouble convincing yourself that what you want to eat is oatmeal, because it will smell great. Throw a little milk or cream in after you remove them from the crockpot, stir the whole concoction a little bit, and voila.
posted by Flunkie at 1:50 PM on February 4, 2012 [3 favorites]