It may sound strange that my weekend breakfast treat is a bowl of oatmeal.
Sure, I like egg dishes as much as the next person. But after a week of usually too many wheat-based foods, some other whole grain is a welcome change. And this isn’t just any old bowl of oatmeal.
I exclusively use steel-cut oats, scooped from the bulk bin at Food 4 Less. The texture is far more toothsome than standard rolled oats, which to me always yield a texture like wallpaper paste. The downside of the steel-cut kind is that they take about 30 minutes to cook, hence my preference for making them on the weekend.
I always add some dried fruit, usually Zante currants or golden raisins and then a few nuts, preferably walnuts from my own tree or, in a pinch, almonds. Some flaxseed meal is a must, and a tablespoon of half-in-half keeps the mixture creamy and rich. There’s nothing worse than drowning oatmeal in a puddle of skim milk, which dilutes all the other flavors.
Lately, though, this formula has become a little too predictable, even when it’s eaten just once a week. On a recent visit to Ashland’s Morning Glory restaurant, I was reminded of their beloved Moroccan oatmeal, which is so popular that they sell the dry mix of oats, fruit and spices so customers can make it at home. But rather than pay $7.50 for the package, I was determined to make my own for mere pennies, with the inclusion of steel-cut oats rather than rolled, no less.
I know from the menu that the cereal contains dates and apricots. And although spices are not specified, it appears from the color that turmeric is among them. Cinnamon, I know, is heavily used in Moroccan cuisine, and cardamom and ground ginger would add extra zing.
After making this several times, I’m convinced I’ve hit on a winning combination, one that wakes up the taste buds with unexpected breakfast flavors.
Start the oatmeal with a handful of apricots and dates, about four apiece, roughly chopped and simmered in the water as it comes to a boil. I use about 1 1⁄2 cups water for 1⁄4 cup oats, which makes a single serving. As you make more servings, the ratio of water to oats decreases.
After the oats have absorbed almost all the liquid, I add about 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal and about 1⁄4 teaspoon each ground turmeric and cinnamon and 1⁄8 teaspoon each ground ginger and cardamom. You could add a few chunks of crystallized ginger instead of the ground spice. But I prefer a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds, which add sweetness and even stand in for the crunch of nuts.
Try it and give me your verdict.
Farewell to a friendly face and his famous pasta
I’m probably not the only person wishing the farmer’s market wasn’t still more than a month off despite unseasonably warm weather.
There’s one face that will be missing, though, when this year’s Rogue Valley Growers and Crafters Market opens in Medford March 18, in Ashland March 16. “Pasta” Dave Deichler died a couple weeks ago, shocking family, friends and market fans.
Just 59 years old, Dave died of natural causes, peacefully in his sleep, a friend said. The state medical examiner’s office declined to conduct an autopsy after reviewing Dave’s medical records with Veterans Affairs. His obituary appeared Thursday in the Mail Tribune.
Like many market customers, I imagine, I didn’t know Dave well, but spying his smiling face next to Fry Family Farm’s stall was usually the highlight of my trip to Medford’s Armory. And, of course, that pasta was worth coming back for every week. He’d even save a package for me if I had to run to the bank for a little extra cash.
But with its cost of $4.50 for a 1-pound package, Dave’s pasta, I felt, was always fairly priced, particularly when one considers that he used organic flour and eggs from cage-free, vegetarian hens. The package easily would feed four people, and I often made several pasta variations from it through the week.
The former head chef for Wild River Brewing and Pizza Co., Dave was never short on enthusiasm for talking over customers’ plans for his pasta. One of my chief joys, as Dave knew, was cutting his lasagna sheets into my own paperdelle or using them to make ravioli with my own garden-fresh ingredients.
Dave also was the only local source I’d ever found for fresh pasta made from spelt, a wheat alternative. And although spelt flour is many times more expensive than wheat, Dave never charged more for it. He simply spread the cost among his other pastas — angel hair, linguini, fettucini, rotelli and lasagna — and designated one style for spelt weekly from the small batches he personally produced at the Wolf Creek Community Center kitchen, where reporter Sanne Specht interviewed him for a story more than two years ago.
Dave made hundreds of pounds of pasta every week for about a decade, but it’s unlikely his death could be blamed on working too much. It was obvious even from our brief conversations that Dave knew how to enjoy life and where to draw the line.
His wholesale accounts included just a handful; he wasn’t making pasta for grocery stores, although several local restaurants relied on it. Dave never joined the new farmers market at Hillcrest Orchard, nor the Saturday growers market in Ashland. It wasn’t unusual for him to skip a week of markets during the height of summer and make for the coast. While Dave’s customers missed him, we could hardly blame him.
A celebration of Dave’s life is planned for Feb. 20 in Wolf Creek. If I get the go-ahead from organizers, I will post additional details. Hull & Hull Funeral Directors of Grants Pass is handling arrangements and has posted a more detailed obituary.