That first morning at my Florida Friend's house, I entered the kitchen and found Mr. Florida Friend at the stove stirring a pot of steel cut oats. Cooking is a hobby of his, and he has enjoyed--can you believe it? enjoyed!--making several meals for us. My own husband is intimidated. "Are the troupes coming here anytime soon? Is this a precedent being set here?" I may need to order him a subscription to a cooking magazine like Mr. Florida has gracefully arranged on the cookbook shelf.
The primary difference in preparing these oats from the kind that comes in a box of packets marked "instant" is that they are NOT instant. You need to have time to stand and stir them stove top. The payback, however, is the wonderful nutty aroma that wafts up to you as you do.
While Mr. Florida worked with the oats, Mrs. Florida Friend prepped the champagne mango for a side dish. I learned her simple technique for prepping mango, a fruit I rarely see in my apple orchard part of the world: nestle half of it in your palm, cut a cross-hatch grid, and then with a spoon, scoop out the fruit. Looks like you diced it large, but the fruit is too soft to dice it any way but this one. And it was some of the tastiest fruit I've ever had!
Here's the naked oatmeal--well, it had a spoonful of dark brown sugar on it--but later I added golden raisins and dates and had a side of wheat toast with current jelly.
This was a kitchen pilgrimage that wasn't just a virtual trip as all the rest have been. I think more of them need to be live and in person, because the results were a delightful way to start a Sunday!
However, it was a leisurely breakfast. So, just in case you'd like to try these creamy and richly flavored oats, you might want to check out the bonus blog link:
and the way I'd probably cook this at my house.
I've never tried them in the crock pot, but I'm far more curious now to try!
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