Toasted oatmeal

"Things that are supposed to be good for you should keep the secret of their good intentions strictly to themselves!" - Bert Greene's grandmother

Oh, oatmeal, you are both nutritious and delicious.

I tucked "Geene on Greens and Grains", by Bert Greene, into my bookshelf when I started collecting cookbooks in earnest several years ago. I'm not sure that it's still in print. The copyright is 1984-1988. The recipe collection is interesting and diverse, from bran muffins to onion marmalade to carrot rice pudding, the man clearly had a love of food. Even if you never try a recipe, the book is worth its salt for the food writing. The reader is treated to a conversational and comprehensive overview of over 30 veggies/roots/fruits and some 20 grains, along with humorous personal stories and recipes of his own or from friends, each featuring the food in question. He writes in a way that makes you think, "yeah, I should try that."

Almost as an aside in the Oats section, he tells us that "some kitchen savants believe that all oats taste best if they are lightly toasted prior to serious cookery, whether that be for a morning meal or for a midnight snack of oatmeal pancakes."

Right you are, Kitchen Savants. Toasting the oatmeal brings out a delicious nutty quality in the grain. It only takes a few extra minutes, but the taste is a world of difference. I go through phases of making this, during one of which my upstairs neighbor stopped me to ask, "what is it that you make every morning?" Then, "It smells so good!"

Aside from toasting, the other secret to comment-worthy oatmeal is ingredient quality. After extensive testing, it's clear that oatmeal tastes best when prepared with organic oats. These are easily found at natural foods markets (Peoples or Whole Foods). The organic rolled oats are a bit thicker than the Quaker variety, and it makes for a better (chewier) bowl of oatmeal. For that very reason, at least pass on the quick oats if you can't find bulk organic oats.


Oatmeal for one:

1/3 heaping cup rolled oats
1 cup water, cool
Pinch salt (1/8 tsp kosher salt was my measured pinch, and I like it salty)
Fruit of your choice. I like raisins, cranberries, apricots (chopped), freeze-dried strawberries when I can find them. Fresh fruit, of course, also delicious- just add it after the oatmeal is done cooking.

1. Toast Oats
Put the oats in a saucepan over high heat. Let them sit there for about 20-30 seconds while the pan gets hot, then shake them. Let it sit again, this time only 10 seconds and shake again. Do this for 2 minutes. They will become fragrant after 30 seconds (strangely reminiscent of popcorn), you need to shake them more frequently once you can smell them toasting to prevent burning. Burned oats are bad oats, but a few browned or blackish flecks are normal. You'll know if you really burn them.

2. Add Water
Have the water on standby. After a few minutes of toasting, pour in the water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add salt and dried fruit, then reduce the heat to low, stirring often. Cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Let Stand
If you have the patience, turn off the heat and let it sit for about 2 minutes for the oatmeal to thicken up a bit. If you are a perfectionist, cover the pot while it stands. If you're lazy, it will be just as good uncovered.

Some people are against salt in their oatmeal. Most like sugar. Some like butter and cream. Some, nuts. As always, do as you please, but I assure you that if you want to swim in the pool of oatmeal, this is a good platform to jump in from.
The recipe can easily be doubled.

Cranberry almond crostata

About a year and a half ago I had the good fortune to take a trip to France and Italy. My last few days were spent in Italy with my friend, Valentina, in the company of her generous and welcoming family and friends. Our last afternoon in town, Valentina's mother had everyone over for an amazing feast. She spent the whole day preparing a multi-course meal like I had never experienced before- I still remember waking up to the smell of braising meat. Amidst the many pleasures of the day was a crostata with raspberry jam. Both Valentina and her mother have mastered this Italian pastry. A crust like a cookie and a jam filling, it dances in the mouth with elegance. As good for breakfast as it is for dessert.

Hidden in the back of the November issue of Gourmet magazine this year was this recipe for a cranberry almond crostata. It would be easy to overlook, socked away in the back as it was. But on seeing it, my mind wandered back to that summer by the Italian beach, when I was listening to stories told my entertaining old men who speak as much English as I speak Italian. The combined forces of their inflections and gesticulations and my wine consumption held us engaged in conversation. I knew I'd bake this dessert.

My go-to excuses for baking were tapped out, what with Thanksgiving over, no parties on the horizon, and the lab recently fed with pumpkin bread (I like to leave the window of opportunity open for them to believe that some of my free time might be spent reading scientific journal articles). But I love everything this recipe has to offer. Cranberries. Almonds. Butter. Jam. What's not to love? Staring into my fridge one night, bathed in cool light as a heap of veggies stared back at me, the "my cranberries are going to go bad soon!" excuse leaped at me. Relieved, I set about toasting almonds.

The result? A pleasant tart-and-sweet filling ensconced in a buttery, slightly nutty crust. I used half apricot jam, half orange marmalade, and would use all apricot next time, and I'd be sure to roll the crust as thin as possible such that it doesn't overwhelm the delicious insides. The crostata shelf life is relatively short, so be ready with a reason if you go to the trouble of making it. But with a brief oven-revival before serving, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream you might stretch its opportunity to please a few extra days. It's too fancy to be every-day comfortable, and not quite as cookie-like as Valentina's family crostata. It has its place and time, and was a good experiment, but apparently my work is not done yet.

Adapted from November 2007 Gourmet

1. The Almond-and Butter Crust

Toast and cool 1/4 lb almonds, then pulse them in a blender with 1/4 c. flour.

Beat together 3/4 c. softened butter and 1/2 c. brown sugar with a mixer for about 3 mins. Beat an egg in a little cup and scoop out 1 T of the egg, the dump the remainder of the egg into the butter-sugar mix. Return that reserved 1T egg to the cup and refrigerate it, covered, for later.

Next, add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/8 tsp almond extract, and mix it well. Finally, add the zest of 1 lemon, 1/2 tsp salt, the almond mixture, and 1 3/4c. flour. Mix it on low speed or by hand with a big spoon until it just forms a dough. Phew... divide the dough evenly in two, shape into disks with a diameter the length of your hand, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm (at least 30 min, according the the experts).

2. The Sweet-and-Tart Filling

Start with 10 oz of fresh, washed, and picked-over cranberries and bring them to a boil with 1/4 c. orange juice, 1/2 c. apricot jam (or marmalade), 1/2 c. brown sugar and 1/4 tsp salt in a medium pot, uncovered. Simmer and stir until the cranberries plump up and some of them burst with a complete loss of integrity and the whole mixture starts to thicken up. This should take 5-7 min. Once you're satisfied, cool the filling to lukewarm by putting it in the fridge for a bit.

3. The Assembly

Preheat the oven to 375F with a foil-liked baking sheet on the middle rack.

Butter your springform pan.

Roll out one round of dough and try to cut it into even strips, 1/3 - 1/2 inch wide. Freeze the strips to firm them up for easier handling while you work on the bottom crust.

Roll out the other half between 2 sheets of parchment or between sheets of saran wrap. Transfer it to the pan and arrange it such that it covers the bottom evenly and comes up about 1/2" in the pan.

Pour your filling into the dough shell and arrange about 5 strips, spaced 1" apart, across the top, then arrange more strips diagonally across the first set. Brush the lattice top with the egg you saved from the crust preparation and sprinkle with 1T granulated sugar.

Bake on the hot baking sheet "until pastry is golden and filling is bubbling, 50-60 min." Keep an eye on it and cover loosely with foil if the crostata is browning too quickly.

Cool completely in pan on a rack, 1.5-2 hr, to let the juices thicken, then serve.
I mentioned the ice cream, right?

A happy burden

Having a loaf of my mom's pumpkin bread in the house reminds me of being a kid. Then, I would carefully cut a few slices and pack them in my lunch bag to get me through the day. Now I fortify myself in the morning with a slice of pumpkin bread and a cup of strong coffee. In short, pumpkin bread can go a long way towards making a better day.

I want the pumpkin bread I buy out in the world to be like this, gently spiced and very moist. When it's not, I pick at it, disappointed, wishing I'd opted for something with crumbly stuff on top. Maybe you have a similar recipe? It's my end-all-be-all, it's homemade, and it hits that magic spot hovering between stomach and brain.

I’ve been making this since high school. High school… a time when I never checked to see if I had all the ingredients called for in the recipe until I actually needed to add them to the mixing bowl. Which means that once I had all my dry ingredients in the well, 6 eggs cracked in there, and then found I had no oil. I left it on the counter and went on an hour-long field trip to the store. And it still worked.

I got the recipe from my mom, who, if I recall correctly, got it from one of the cookbooks in the kitchen that has all the good desserts in it- maybe an old Betty Crocker book, with its retro-orange cover, that she got back in the ‘70s. There were pencil markings in the margin that were her notes to modify the bread for the 28-oz cans of pumpkin we buy.

Here it is, in all its classic glory, along with my peanut-gallery comments:

Preheat oven to 350F and grease 3 medium loaf tins (I use 1-lb loaf tins)

Sprinkle brown sugar in the bottom of each tin (I use about 1 tsp per tin, like my mom, I bang the tin against the heel of one hand to coat the sugar in the grease so that it balls up a bit. It doesn’t have to be perfectly dispersed on the bottom)

Mix together dry ingredients and fashion a well in the center:
(NOTE: USE A REALLY BIG MIXING BOWL)

5 1/4 c. sifted all-purpose flour
2 1/4 c. light brown sugar
2 1/4 c. white sugar
3 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground (or freshly grated, if you’ve got it) nutmeg

Add wet ingredients to the center of the well:
6 eggs
1 1/2 c. salad oil (canola/vegetable oil)
1 c. water
3 c. mashed pumpkin

Use your mixer to mix everything together, scraping down the sides with a spatula to ensure that all the dry ingredients get mixed in. Beat for approximately 3 min, then pour into prepared loaf tins (the batter should fill the pan about 3/4 of the way) and bake about 1 hr, 15 min.

Cool 5 min in tins (if you release them too soon, they won’t set well and you risk breaking the top from the bottom when you take them out.) I like it sliced thick and served refrigerator-cold. It’s great with peanut butter spread on top, or between two slices.