How lucky am I today that I can tuck into a hot bowl of this amazing oatmeal while I gaze out my window at the SECOND blizzard we've had already this season. School was preemptively cancelled yesterday, so I knew I'd have some late-rising hungry mouths to feed today and planned ahead by getting a batch of this oatmeal prepped last night for an easy finish this morning.
That's right, this is a steel-cut oatmeal dish that because of a par cooking the evening before, can be ready in about 10 minutes in the morning when you're ready to eat it. On a day like today with temperatures at 0℉ wind-chill and winds gusting to 50 MPH outside, this soulful bowl is just what the doctor ordered. Fragrant with gingerbread spices such as nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger, and topped with a generous glug of heavy cream, all I can say is LET IT SNOW!
Cheers – Steve
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup unsulphured mild molasses
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups steel-cut oats
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
- heavy cream and your choice of chopped nuts for serving
Instructions
The night before:
- In a 3-quart sauce pan, whisk the brown sugar, molasses, salt, the spices and 6 cups of water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir in the oats and return to a boil. Turn the heat down to maintain a simmer and cook for 1 minute, stirring to prevent sticking. Remove from the heat and let the oats cool to room temp in the pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning:
- Bring the covered oatmeal to a boil over medium-high heat. Uncover and cook, stirring often, until the liquid is mostly absorbed and the oatmeal is pleasantly chewy, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the raisins ans crystallized ginger. Cover and let sit until a little more of the liquid is absorbed and the oatmeal is cool enough to eat, about 5 minutes. Serve drizzled with cream and sprinkled with chopped nuts.