Recipe: Steel-Cut Oats with Maple-Roasted Apples and Cheddar

I’ve become an oatmeal connoisseur. I’m that woman who orders oatmeal when eating out at relatively nice restaurants or on vacation to see just how they do it. When on a train trip a few months ago, I even became quite enamored with Amtrak oatmeal and would look forward to it each morning (it was a long train trip). Like you, I’m sure, I’ve had really great oatmeal and my share of pretty awful bowls, and I’ve learned a lot in between those experiences.

I think the key to really good steel-cut oats is treating the oats delicately. I like to toast mine with a little butter before beginning — this brings out their nutty flavor. Then I always heat up the cooking liquid in a separate pan from the oats and add the oats to the hot liquid. This may sound fussy, but the less time the oats spend sitting in the cold liquid as it’s heating up, the better; this method always yields much more toothsome oats than if you pour all the ingredients in together and call it a day.

Last, I don’t spend much time stirring my oats after I add the cooking liquid. I let them do their thing. The more you stir (and some folks like to stir their oats vigorously), the greater chance there is for the integrity of the oats to break apart and you could very well end up with gummy oats. No one’s favorite.

The idea for this particular recipe came about as I was experimenting with different savory versions of oats and began thinking about the sweet and savory flavor combinations I love. In the winter, there’s nothing more satisfying than maple-roasted apples with a little hunk of cheddar, so I decided to incorporate all of those flavors into a simple winter porridge. You will likely have a few roasted apples leftover, but they’re wonderful on top of future oatmeal or swirled into yogurt or ice cream in the evenings.