Fried Oatmeal
Yep, you read that right: "fried oatmeal." Sort of insane, right?
The other day, I posted about making steel-cut oats with apples and dried fruit in a slow cooker. (You can check that post out here. Make sure you look at the comments--so much good information.)
You know I love steel-cut oats. And you know I love them from a slow cooker. But even I cannot sit down to a 6-quart slow cooker of oatmeal and go at it undaunted. I may be a multi-generation Protestant with forebearers who fell in the Civil War, but I don't need that much fiber.
So what to do? Bruce to the rescue. He took my leftovers and fried them. I fear this might become a trend in our house. The "morning-after slow-cooker oatmeal breakfast." Sounds like a plan.
What's to follow is more of a narrative suggestion than a real recipe. You'll need to follow some instincts here. But trust me: it'll work out.
So on to it.
First, scoop out the leftover steel-cut oats from the slow-cooker and spread them smooth in an 8- or 9-inch (20 or 23-cm) square baking pan. The size is determined by how many oats you have left. You could even use a smaller pan. A 9-inch (23-cm) pan is about perfect if you've eaten two servings out of that big slow cooker. Otherwise, go smaller. The point is they have to be at least 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick. And better, in fact, when they're thicker in the pan, up to 1 1/2 inches (3 1/2 cm).
Cover the pan and put it in the fridge until the next morning.
At which time, turn the whole thing out onto a cutting board or a big piece of aluminum foil. (No need to have greased that baking pan in advance.) The oats will have set up, as you can see from the photo. I chipped one corner of the "cake" so you could see how dense and firm it gets.
One note: yes, you must use steel-cut oats. They're not as sticky as rolled oats. And so they'll form a cake that doesn't need extra flour to solve that stickiness.
Melt a couple of tablespoons (about 30 grams) unsalted butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Slice the oat cake into several pieces and slip them into the skillet. Fry until browned and a little crunchy, about 4 minutes.
Another trick: shake that skillet. Often. Jostle it back and forth over the burner so you know the cakes are not sticking.
Use a large spatula to flip them over and continue frying until crisp on the other side and heated through, about 4 more minutes.
Transfer to plates and serve with maple syrup. The real thing--no fake stuff, please. Real food, remember? It's the only way to satiety. And if maple syrup is in short supply, how about jam? Blackberry or elderberry would be fantastic. Just keep it real. And enjoy those oats!
Mark Scarbrough | Posted on Friday, November 12, 2010 at 8:51AM | in Breakfast, Fabulously Empty Calories, Grains breakfast, fried oatmeal, oatmeal, steel-cut oatmeal, steel-cut oats
Reader Comments (11)
FROM BRUCE
I watched Mark scarf this up yesterday. So you know how good it was!
Now here's a trick.... try putting that mush into a tall cylindrical measuring cup instead of a baking pan - then when you plop it out you have a tube of oatmeal you can slice into any thickness you want. But you'll have to have a tall, 4- to 8-cup measuring cup to do this.
Clever AND resourceful. Love it!
You guys are the best. I was just wondering what I was going to do with all the delicious leftover oatmeal from yesterday's recipe (since I've never had luck reheating oatmeal, ever.) :)
I love this idea. After all, if they can do fried Snickers and Twinkies at the county fair, why not fried oatmeal? Ok, I know that's not the point. lol
You could also put it in a loaf pan which also makes it easy to slice. My mom always did this with cornmeal mush at night and then the next morning she sliced and fried it. Soooooo good!
Cindy: In the spirit, for sure. But hey, what's wrong with fried chocolate?
Ann: Oh, my soul! A Southerner like me! I grew up eating cornmeal mush. (We never thought to call it anything fancy like "polenta.") In fact, when Bruce made these fried oatmeal "cakes," I had to launch into this long story about vacations as a kid--how we had to leave real early, around 4:00 a.m., so we could get to this one truck stop and have fried mush with butter and maple syrup for breakfast. Oh, so good!
M.
LOVE!
That is all :-)
OMG! Best use of leftover oatmeal ever!!!
Lyndsay and Meg: Thanks! I have to say that when Bruce said he wanted to do this, I was dumbfounded. I thought he'd come up with something brand new. Then I looked at the NYTimes Vegetarian T-giving piece, the one that includes four of our recipes--and right next to one of ours is a picture and recipe for, yes, fried oatmeal. Just goes to show you that there are few new ideas out there--but lots of darn tasty ones!
M.
I shouldn't even admit this but I ate this for breakfast AND dinner today! So so good! Burnt my hand on splattered butter during the flip (I'm new to the culinary arts)...it was worth it!
I wonder if I could freeze the oatmeal "bars"? What do you think?
I asked chef Bruce about freezing the bars, Bari, and he said, "I don't know--try it." There you go. I don't think it would work, but he is right: none of us would know until you tried it. Did you go for the maple syrup? I had some a week or so ago and did them with blackberry jam. A tasty lunch for sure.
M.