Every once in a while when having breakfast in a restaurant, I will order oatmeal. Most menus offer cooked or baked oatmeal on the menu, but once when in a restaurant called Honey, located in the western suburbs of Chicago, I saw something called Pan Seared Oatmeal. It was described as 'steel-cut oats cooked in apple cider, brown sugar, spices, seared then served with dried fruit, apple cider reduction'. They had me with brown sugar, but the thought of having the oatmeal flavored with apple cider, dried fruit and brown sugar was more than enough of an enticement for me order it. And I was so happy that I did. One bite and I was making noises. You know those kinds of Meg Ryan "When Harry Met Sally" noises one makes when they have just tasted something divinely delicious. These are not the kinds of noises you make in a restaurant by yourself, you need others sitting with you at the table. Being mid-morning in a public restaurant, my noises were mostly audible to those at my table.
This wasn't a restaurant that shared its recipes. Imagine that! I have been thinking about this oatmeal lately. Yeah, go figure. So I decided to go on the hunt for this recipe, to try to find if there was anything out there closely resembling it. Amazingly Cooking Light had a recipe for Pan Seared Oatmeal that contained ingredients almost replicating those in the restaurants oatmeal. I was hoping this recipe would turn out as delicious as it sounded and closely resemble the pan seared oatmeal served in the restaurant back in the midwest. And much to my delight, my hopes came true.
It is nice to wake up in the morning when having guests and be able to put together a beautiful and delicious breakfast without needing to spend too much time in the kitchen. This pan seared oatmeal is one of those recipes where almost everything can and should be made the night before, particularly the oatmeal and the fruit compote. And for those of you who don't rank oatmeal high on your list of favorite foods, consider this way of preparing oatmeal as list changer.
To make the oatmeal, you first combine the water, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a heavy medium sized saucepan. Cooked at medium-high heat this mixture is brought to a boil. Once it reaches the boiling stage, you add the steel-cut oats, reduce the heat to simmer and continue to cook for approximately 20 minutes or until the oatmeal has thickened. My cooking time was exactly 20 minutes.
The thickened oatmeal is then poured into a parchment paper lined 9 x 9 inch non-stick pan and allowed to set. The recipe I adapted called for letting it set up for an hour, but I don't think an hour was long enough. After it cooled to room temperature, I covered it and placed it in the refrigerator to set up overnight.
Trust me when I saw you will be really happy if you line the pan with parchment paper. You will be able to just lift up the oatmeal, place on a cutting board and then cut into triangles. The 9x9 sized pan enables you to make 16 evenly sized rectangles yielding 8 servings.
In a non-stick skillet, melt one to two tablespoons of butter. Depending on the size of the skillet, add 4 or 8 triangles, giving them some breathing room to cook.
The oatmeal triangles are seared on each side for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown and heated through. Remove from the pan, place in a warm oven and continue cooking until all of the oatmeal triangles are cooked.
When making the compote, you can use any combination of dried fruits that you like. Because I love raisins, I thought I would create a compote made of a mixture of white and dark raisins. For a different plated look next time, I might use a combination of regular sized and jumbo raisins. The compote begins with combining the water, brown sugar, cinnamon and dried fruit. It is brought to a boil and then simmered for 20 minutes or until thick. The next time I make this I will use half water and half apple cider to give the compote mixture a deeper, richer flavor.
Yes, you can still buy apple cider in the spring1 Even my little grocery store in town carried it in the refrigerated section. In larger grocery stores, you can sometimes find apple cider in the produce section or the juice aisle. The syrup is simply a reduction sauce. Cooked at medium-high heat for approximately 20 minutes or reduced to 1/3 cup and slightly thickened. I found that it is best to use the syrup immediately after making it as it will further set up and harden. But not to worry, you can loosen it by adding a small amount of apple cider to get the consistency back to a thickened syrup, sort of like the consistency of pancake syrup.
Recipe
Pan Seared Oatmeal with Cider Syrup & Warm Fruit Compote (slight adaptation of the Pan Seared Oatmeal recipe from Cooking Light)
Ingredients
Syrup
2 cups apple cider
Compote
2 cups water (or 1 cup water and 1 cup apple cider)
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
7 ounces of dried fruit bits (I used 7 ounces of white and dark raisins)
Oatmeal
3 cups water
1 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups stee-cut (Irish) oats (I recommend McCann's)
2 Tablespoons butter
Directions
Oatmeal
1. Combine water, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in heavy medium sized saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat.
2. Stir in oats and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes or until thick. Stir occasionally.
3. Line a 9x9 non-stick pan with parchment paper. Pour cooked oats into prepared pan.
4. Allow to chill at least one hour or until set. Recommend making the night before to allow oatmeal to fully set.
5. Cut oatmeal into 8 equal squares, then cut diagonally in half to form a total of 16 triangles.
6. In a medium sized non-stick skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add 8 oatmeal triangles. Cook 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
7. Remove from pan and keep warm. Continue cooking remaining oatmeal triangles, adding another two tablespoons of butter to pan.
8. Place two oatmeal triangles on a plate. Top with 3 to 4 tablespoons of fruit compote and 2 tablespoons of cider syrup.
Fruit Compote
1. Combine water, sugar, cinnamon and dried fruit in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer approximately 20 minutes or until thick.
3. Remove and heat. Serve immediately or refrigerate and reheat before serving.
Cider Syrup
1. Bring cider to a boil in small saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Cook for approximately 20 minutes or until cider is reduced to 1/3 cup. Set aside. (It is best to make the cider syrup on the morning of serving the pan seared oatmeal.)
As I now reside in the 'country' and not in the 'suburbs', the sounds of cars, trucks, planes, and trains have now been replaced with the sounds of roosters, sheep, chickens, cows, peacocks and horses. And oh yes, lest I forget the night time or very early sounds of coyotes. But more than the sounds of these animals, are the sounds of silence and the ocean waves. In my sometimes chaotic, stressful life, it is these sounds that nurture my spirit and allow me to have time to think, reflect. I had a friend once who when I asked 'what are you thinking about?'. His answer was sometimes 'nothing'. I often wondered, how could anyone be thinking of nothing? Well now I know that it sometimes feels good to just let your mind wander and give yourself permission to 'not think'. And after the periods of a quiet mind I allow myself to have, I return back to my world of competing thoughts and multi-tasking happier.
As I was driving the other day, I stopped to take some photos of a few horses grazing. Much to my pure delight, one of the horses came from across the field up to the fence where I was standing. He even allowed me to pet him, although I must admit I wasn't sure if this was such a good idea. But just looking into this horse's most beautiful deep brown eyes, I somehow knew it was going to be okay. And then I wondered to myself 'so what are you thinking horse with the beautiful brown eyes?' This was not Mr. Ed so there was no response to this question (for those of you not old enough to remember Mr. Ed, he was a talking horse in a television show a very long time ago). But did you ever just look into the eyes of someone and instantly feel an incredible connection to them, suddenly not hearing anything? These would be the best moments of silence.
