03: Oatmeal, Two Ways

It can be more than brown sugar and raisins

Welcome to Home Cooking Diary, a newsletter on my journey as a home cook—the successes and failures alike. Part cooking log, part recipe recommender, and part chronicle of my thoughts as I feed myself and my family.

For a long time, I foolishly disregarded oatmeal (or porridge, if you will) entirely. For most of my existence, I have had a very unimaginative view of it: runny, milky, maybe with brown sugar or maple syrup to make it taste good. Some people put raisins or other dried fruit on it. The stuff they served orphans in Dickensian literature. All of that changed last year when I was pregnant and experiencing crazy sugar cravings. Cravings for sugar during pregnancy can actually mean that you need protein (confusing, I know), and they told me I was eating too much sugar (funny how that works), so I was looking for novel ways of getting protein with every meal, and have as balanced a diet as possible (I could say more about prenatal nutrition, but will spare you—email me if more info would be helpful to you though!).

Oatmeal contains a fair amount of protein, in addition to the carbs and fiber that I think it’s more commonly associated with—making it ideal if you’re intent on balancing your diet, as I was. Furthermore, I discovered in these forays with oatmeal, that it can be an incredible vehicle for many ingredients, especially during these glorious months teeming with seasonal fruit at its peak. Like pears.

You might notice an abundance of pears at the farmers market lately. I recently came into possession of more pears than I know what to do with, so it’s been our protagonist at breakfast time. I made oatmeal with pears two days in a row, two different ways, so I thought I’d share. The simple ratio I employ for excellent oatmeal/porridge is one part rolled oats to two parts liquid (be it water or cow’s milk or nut milk). If I’m eating alone (which I usually am at breakfast), I go with 1/2 cup oats to 1 cup water. Simply double it if you’re cooking for two.

Porridge with maple-stewed Seckle pears

(serves 1)

Ingredients: 1/2 cup rolled oats; 1 cup water; kosher salt; 1-2 tbsp butter; 1 ripe pear; 1-2 tbsp maple syrup; a pinch of pumpkin spice blend (or other spice of choice—cinnamon or cardamom are great options)

1. Prepare the oatmeal: put the oats, water, and a pinch of salt in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until it reaches the desired consistency (I like mine on the thicker side so I let it go a bit long).

1. Meanwhile, slice up one Seckle pear (or other pear of your choice) into a crescent moon shape, removing the core as you go. Warm some butter in a small skillet, add the pears, drizzling the maple syrup over them. As the pears begin to warm, add a few shakes of your preferred spice. That day, I used this incredible pumpkin spice blend (created by one of my favorite food writers, Alicia Kennedy). Let cook, tossing frequently until softened (just 1 minute or so—you don’t want to overcook the pears, otherwise they’ll get mushy and lose their shape. In my opinion, the best thing about pears is that grainy, textural bite they have).

2. Spoon the oatmeal into a shallow bowl and top with the pears and their butter-maple mixture. Dust with more pumpkin spice if you like.

Oatmeal with raw Red Anjou pears and nut butter

(serves 1)

Ingredients: 1/2 cup rolled oats; 1 cup water; kosher salt; cardamom; 1 ripe pear; almond butter; maple syrup

1. Prepare the oatmeal: put the rolled oats, water, and a pinch of salt in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until it reaches the desired consistency (I like mine on the thicker side so I let it go a bit long). Turn off the heat and stir in a nice pinch of cardamom (or other spice of choice).

2. Dice up 1 Red Anjou pear, removing the core as you go. Spoon the oatmeal into a shallow bowl and top with the pears, a large dollop of almond butter (or other nut butter of your choice), and finally, drizzle maple syrup over the entire mess.

Note: while these meals grew out of my own improvisation in the kitchen, I am always cooking from recipes and have been influenced by many writers and recipe creators (the latter of which I’m not trying to be, despite the humble efforts above, haha). Specifically, Anna Jones’s porridge recipe gave me the idea of stewing the pears in maple syrup (and I’ve done it with all kinds of fruit), and Dan Pelosi and Alicia Kennedy have both written about putting peanut butter on their oatmeal (genius!).

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While I have you, here are a few recs from the week:

*Sanaë Lemoine’s The Margot Affair, a novel set in Paris replete with complicated family dynamics, mothers and daughters, absent fathers, and much more. And it happens to be a secret food novel, meaning that it’s peppered with wonderful descriptions of meals the characters eat (and sometimes their preparations), despite not overtly concerning itself with food plot-wise. My favorite kind of novel.

*Rancho Gordo’s Whipple Bean. I’m a proud new-ish member of their Bean Club (I think I was on the waitlist for over a year) and received this variety. I recently made them very simply with a little fancy olive oil, salt and pepper, and they were so good that Reed (relatively bean agnostic) actually gushed.

*Highly Enthused is one of my favorite podcasts. It happens to be based out of Australia so some of the recommendations are, sadly, not applicable to Americans, but the hosts Sophie Roberts and Sophie McComas have impeccable taste in books, films, food, and tv. I enjoy the glimpse into life there. Furthermore, they have a fantastic newsletter.

*For All Mankind, a television series on Apple +. Somehow I only recently became aware of this show despite it having been “on the air” for three seasons. It’s not perfect, but I’m thoroughly engaged. It’s an alternate history, and sometimes I find myeslf forgetting that the events of the series didn’t happen. I remember where we are in reality, and get a bit bummed. Otherwise, watching is a very enjoyable experience that I recommend.

That’s all for today! As you probably noticed, Home Cooking Diary is in its early days, so if you have feedback or suggestions I am all ears.