Saturday, September 10, 2016

Baked Oatmeal

The little kitchen needs a kick in the ass re-boot. I cook a lot  throw together meals all the time. Usually it happens around 11;00 at night and nothing I feel compelled to capture on camera and it usually involves cheese melted on toast. It's not as dire as it sounds because it's usually really good cheese melted on really good toast with a rub of garlic and a swath of Dijon mustard...maybe some caramelized onions or crispy fried shallots. 
There's the occasional Caprese wrap featuring fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, fresh cracked pepper and a few pinches of  Maldon sea salt, rolled up in a flour tortilla and sliced into cute little pinwheels...I could go on and I will...next time.
Here's the thing. I'm not conjuring up new recipes or pouring over a stack of cookbooks looking for the next best thing. I cook for one. I like to eat good left-overs.  That's the key. Good left-overs. I'll gladly spend half the day in the kitchen if I can chill over the next few days enjoying the spoils the fruits of my labors, labor-free. I like to eat good food, but I don't like to spend a lot of money. I can't spend a lot of money.
I'm fortunate to work in an awesome foodie mecca and from time to time get an early crack at the box of culled produce. Such was the case here...a nice little haul of plums and pluots.

I finally got my mitts on Heidi Swanson's (she, of 101 Cookbooks) beautiful new cookbook Near and Far. This recipe jumped right out at me, oats, nuts, buttermilk, melted butter, maple syrup and stone fruit...<sigh> I've got about 20 recipes bookmarked there, so I better get crackin'.

You know what took this to the next level? a dollop of vanilla creme fraiche! The pan (and the vanilla creme fraiche) lasted 5 days. It was awesome every day. I woke up thinking about that baked oatmeal and the cup of coffee I was gonna be sippin' soon and I swear,  five of the best breakfasts I've ever made.