I love cereal-y foods of any kind (except cream of wheat...childhood trauma, and no, I did NOT want to include it in my Childhood Food Memories meme). As I also love breakfast , and the two get along famously, I am a happy camper. Oatmeal is a dish that never fails to comfort me, especially on a rainy morning (and a random rainy afternoon and rainy evening too!).
This is a version I got from Mireille Guiliano's book French Women Don't Get Fat. I know that this book has very mixed reviews. I wouldn't say it's for everyone. Anyhoo, I'm not going to go into a book review here. All I can say is this: It worked for me.
Ok, enough chat, let's get to breakfast. Mireille's recipe is called Grandma Louise's Oatmeal with Grated Apple. It is the one (and only) recipe I have tried from the book and I immediately loved it. It made my already beloved oatmeal even more scrumptious. The apple flavor is subtly infused into the oatmeal and, although it does soften during cooking, it still maintains a tiny crunch which complements the creaminess on the oatmeal perfectly. I have added walnuts to the recipe because: 1. I like them, & 2. I like them. The nuttiness give this dish another dimension and, I think, rounds everything up nicely. I also like topping it with muscovado sugar...I like the dark caramel-y flavor it lends the oatmeal. Plus, I love the way it immediately starts to dissolve into shiny, dark-brown pools of syrup once sprinkled on the warm oats...
Oatmeal with Grated Apple
(from French Women Don't Get Fat with a little additions from me)
- 100 grams old-fashioned oatmeal
- 600 ml water
- a pinch of salt
- 1 medium apple, coarsely grated (use your favorite kind)
- 1/4 - 1/3 cup walnuts, broken up with your hands (I just eyeball it, if it looks nutty enough for you than stop at 1/4 cup), plus a few pieces for your topping
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 80 ml milk (I use full fat...always)
- 1/2 teaspoon butter
- muscovado sugar for topping
Here's what you do:
- In a saucepan, mix and bring to a boil the oatmeal, water, and salt.
- Add the apple, walnuts, and lemon juice and cook until oatmeal is done, stirring occasionally (Mireille says to cook it for 5 minutes, but I think that's too short for old fashioned oats. In any case, mine were not done in 5...I think it took around 10 minutes or so).
- Add the milk and butter, give it a few stirs, and take it of the heat.
- Serve immediately with a little-more-than-a-sprinkle (c'mon, be generous, it's breakfast!) of muscovado sugar and some walnuts to top it off.
Note: Where I live, there are more hot, steamy mornings than cold, gloomy ones, so I have actually learned to eat oatmeal cold...and like it too!
newsflash: Nupur at One Hot Stove has posted another scrumptious way to serve up oatmeal called Sunshine Oatmeal (the name itself already sounds so tempting)...take a look!