Old-Fashioned Oatmeal

When I (Kate) first lived in Russia as a twenty-year old, I had an older roommate from the Ukraine who made us oatmeal every morning for breakfast. Ludmila Romanina was her name, and during the few months we lived together she took on oatmeal as a challenge. Had she lived in Brookline, Massachusetts during those early years of Cooks’ Illustrated magazine, I’m certain a symbiotic relationship would have flourished. As it was, she planted an understanding in my heart that oatmeal had considerable potential in terms of flavor and texture worth even more than its offering of sound nutrition.    

Amelia’s bowl

Preparing oatmeal is easy, but the many approaches out there can be misleading. Made with water as the only liquid, you deprive yourself of any creaminess. Using only milk, the resulting richness overwhelms the oats’ chew and delicate flavor. Omit salt and you’ll understand why some people consider oatmeal slop—it’s the equivalent of abducting the poor oats and asking them to communicate with scarves stuffed inside their little mouths.

 The following recipe will get your oatmeal just exactly where it needs to be, freeing you to experiment with toppings—from a simple spoonful of jam to more elaborate glories. On vacation, weekends, or if we awaken five minutes early enough on a weekday, we adorn the oatmeal with granola and, depending on the season, fresh or canned fruit, a spoonful of nut butter, dried currants or cherries, a sprinkle of nuts, muesli—really, the potential combinations are so stimulating you can work yourself into a state. And we have—it’s a state called bliss. 

Mom’s bowl

Old-fashioned Oatmeal

Serves 2 or 3

• 1 cup rolled oats (aka Old-fashioned oats)

• 1 cup milk (of your choice)

• 1 cup water

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• Brown sugar, to taste

Place oats, milk, water, and salt in a saucepan. Turn heat to medium-high, bring to a simmer, then turn heat to medium low or low, to maintain a simmer but prevent boiling. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add sweetener (I like brown sugar; Amelia prefers it without; it’s also good with honey or maple syrup).

If you are serving the oatmeal in a fairly plain way, these quantities make two satisfying servings. On a busy morning where timing-wise the choice to squeeze in oatmeal was a bit dangerous, we’ll top it with a spoonful of jam and be perfectly content.

Lemon Blueberry Oven Pancake

Happy blueberry season everyone!

To celebrate blueberries’ arrival, I (Amelia) thought we should all make a giant pancake. I adapted this from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, adding lemon and vanilla, swapping the white sugar for brown, and using kosher salt instead of table for a more present flavor. The result was a perfect weekend breakfast, one that does not require individual flipping, scooping, and burning and feeling bad about yourself because you can’t even get pancakes right. Instead, you can enjoy the weekend with something delicious and simple.

Lemon Blueberry Oven Pancake

Serves 5 

• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

• 3/4 cup (3.75 ounces) regular whole wheat flour

• 3/4 cup (3.75 ounces) all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

• Zest of 1/2 medium lemon

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk

• 1 large egg

• 1 1/2 cups blueberries

• White sugar, for sprinkling

Heat the oven to 350 degrees, melt the butter in a medium bowl (doing this earlier will give it time to cool before it meets the egg), and grease a 9x 13-inch baking pan.

Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt together in a large bowl. Whisk the brown sugar into the melted butter in a medium bowl, followed by the lemon zest, vanilla, buttermilk, and egg. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir with a spatula until just combined. Carefully dot the batter in blobs with the spatula over the pan (pouring it all in at once will make it much trickier to get an even layer) - it’s VERY thin! It will make you a little nervous, but just do your best to get all of the surface area covered and trust in the power of leaveners. Sprinkle the blueberries on top, followed by about 1/2 tablespoon of white sugar, and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Serve warm with your favorite syrup!

Chocolate chip oven pancake: Replace the blueberries with 1 cup of chocolate chips and omit the lemon zest, sprinkling the chocolate chips on and baking it just like the original.

I would try to eat this within the first day. Leftovers look a little sad, though toasting helps.