Oatmeal, and Not Your Grandpa’s Bowl

I. Love. Oats.

They’re the perfect vehicle for flavors, sweet or savory. And they can make an especially brilliant breakfast if you’d just toss those wimpy packets in the bin. This way is cheaper, tastier, and will get some heat in your belly for those chilly autumn days that are certain to come.

Here’s how I make them for one serving. You’ll need:

• 1¾ cups water
• 1 cup rolled oats. You know, the same kind as the goofy dude with the hat
• salt
• unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons of palm sugar (date palm, not coconut)
• dried sultanas (I’d get them from an ethnic Western Asian store), or golden raisins. They’re essentially the same, just produced slightly differently.
• half stick of cinnamon
• cloves
• Cognac

You’ll also need a small pan and a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon.

1. Get your water on high. Once boiling, add the oats and mix. Add the sultanas, cinnamon and a few cloves.
2. Once firmed up a bit and not watery, add a small amount of butter. A teaspoon or two should do the trick. We’ll be adding a touch more at the end. Crumble up the sugar with your fingers and stir constantly until the water is absorbed. I like mine sorta gloopy but so the oats hold their shape, still swollen with water.
3. Add a splash of cognac. I use about 2 tablespoons. Mix briefly while on heat. Then kill the heat and give it some time to soak up.
4. Serve. I keep the cinnamon and cloves in as long as I can but you can remove them if you don’t want to accidentally bite into them. I finish with a modest pad of butter and let it melt over the top, eating a little with each bite. So good.

More ideas:

• You can use currants, regular raisins, or other dried fruits in addition to or instead of sultanas.
• Soaking the dried fruits in alcohol will add a KICK to your morning 😉 You can also be less of an alchy and soak in water, juice (see * below) or a flavored syrup for a few hours.
• The date palm sugar provides a sweetness that is extremely mellow. It almost melds with everything else. You can tell it’s sweet but you might not necessarily realize why. Cane sugar is often much less discrete. If you don’t have palm sugar, brown sugar is a good substitute. There’s also muscavato sugar, and a variety of others. Give them a shot, you’ll feel your culinary world open before your eyes.
• leave the butter out and it’s vegan. If you want some richness, there are plenty of substitutes!
• A tiny hint of heavy cream? Gorgeous. Or, I’d imagine this would top a nice, rich ice cream brilliantly. The heat, melting the cream? I can almost taste it now.
• A squeeze of *orange juice would pair nicely with the spices and alcohol, and add acidity to balance the richness of the butter and or cream—if you’re using it.

This is made almost exclusively with pantry stuffs, relatively cheap, fast, delicious, can be made for many people, and is relatively healthy.

Best of all?

You don’t have to take your dentures out to eat it!