Savory Steel Cut Oats With Shitake, Kale & Walnuts
Bored with the usual bowl of oatmeal for breakfast?
The Chalkboard
is mixing things up a little with a savory version of the old breakfast staple and we love it!
Comforting, high in fiber and filling, it’s the perfect way to start the day. Oats are a blank canvas for countless toppings, which almost always seem to stray to the sweet side.
But why not go savory for a totally different, but equally delicious, take on oats and get an extra serving of veggies to boot? My favorite combo is kale, shiitakes, walnuts and gomasio, a macrobiotic condiment with sesame seeds and sea salt.
The options are limitless. Most anything you would add to polenta, toast or pasta would be fair game on a simple bowl of oats, too (or should I say, game-changing?).
Here are some other options I love: sauteed cabbage and scallions, sesame oil, shoyu, gomasio or sesame seeds and a poached egg; shredded zucchini or sautéed asparagus, goat cheese and toasted, salted pistachios; burst cherry tomatoes, garlic, crushed red pepper, basil and grated Pecorino or Parmesan; or dried chilies, coconut milk, dried unsweetened coconut, toasted cashews, scallions and shoyu.
Serves
: 4
Ingredients
- 1 cup steel cut oats
- 4 cups water (use 3 ¾ cups if oats were soaked overnight and drained)
- Pinch of sea salt
- 2 Tbsp unrefined, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 big bunch kale, stripped and chopped coarsely
- ½ pound shiitake mushrooms
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (or another nut or seed, toasted or raw)
- Gomasio for sprinkling on top
Method
- Place the oats, water and sea salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Lower heat and simmer oats uncovered until oats are tender, about 40 minutes. (Soaked oats only take 30 minutes.)
- In a large skillet, warm olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and a pinch of crushed red pepper. Saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add vegetables, a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper, and sauté until tender, about 6-8 minutes.
- Portion the oats into 4 bowls and top with the vegetable mixture. Add an extra drizzle of olive oil or a different oil like flax, hemp or avocado. Top with walnuts and sprinkle with gomasio.