Vanilla Bean Oatmeal

Aug 31

Written By

If you've never purchased a vanilla bean, sliced it open with a paring knife, scraped the seeds out and dropped them, with the pod, into a pot of milk or cream which you then heat for an ice cream base or a custard or a pudding, you're missing out on a great food moment. The smell is comforting, pure and sweet--the total opposite of what you get when you light one of those synthetic vanilla candles--and there's a visual spectacle as the black vanilla seeds permeate the white liquid. Having purchased vanilla beans on sale at Penzey's in Seattle (3 of them for $9), I decided to go for a vanilla bean moment last Sunday morning with a pot of oatmeal.

Ever since I made April Bloomfield's English Porridge, that's become my go-to oatmeal recipe. I even have it memorized. 1 1/2 cups water, 1 1/2 cups whole milk, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of good sea salt go into a pot. Up goes the heat. It was at this point, while it was warming, that I added the seeds and the pod from one vanilla bean.

When the liquid started to simmer, I added 1/2 a cup of regular old-fashioned oats and 1/2 a cup of steel-cut oats.

That's pretty much it. Stir it around, let it bubble lightly, and cook that way for 25 minutes until the steel-cut oats are tender. It'll taste super salty, but that's when you add the light brown sugar. A good amount to find that perfect sweet/salty balance. This is also a good time to remove the vanilla pod.

And there you have it: vanilla bean oatmeal.

You can really taste the vanilla here (with so few ingredients) but if you want even more vanilla flavor--and who wouldn't?--you can add a splash of pure vanilla extract at the end.

I served it up with a bowl of fruit (peaches and blueberries tossed with honey, vanilla sugar and a tiny pinch of salt):