Once upon a time, Martha Stewart’s empire included a petite monthly magazine called Everyday Food. The subscription price was reasonable and content was strictly food driven, unlike some of her other printed publications that also focus on crafts and housekeeping. I was a loyal subscriber for years and saved every issue I had; they’re neatly displayed on the bookshelf, neighboring my cookbooks.
Holding onto several years of cooking digests (no pun intended) might seem like borderline hoarding, but it’s proven convenient for me. As they’re chronologically ordered, I can quickly grab an issue to leaf through based on the current season and, more often than not, I walk away with a dish to add to my repertoire. Everyday Food was made with the home cook in mind and recipes were always simple to prepare and included familiar ingredients. Needless to say, my archive is still useful, long after the publication ceased to exist, in 2012.
My favorite, comforting, chilly-weather breakfast appears dessert-like in the following recipe. Thanks to your oven’s broiler, you can create a brûlée crust to top it off.
Baked Banana Pecan Oatmeal
From Everyday Food, December 2012
- 1 ½ cups steel-cut oats
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 firm-ripe bananas, sliced ¼ inch thick on the diagonal
- 3 tablespoons packed dark-brown sugar, whisked to remove lumps
- ¼ cup pecans, roughly chopped and toasted
In a medium pot, bring 4 ½ cups water to a boil. Stir in oats and salt and cook 1 minute. Let cool, cover and refrigerate overnight. Bring oatmeal to a simmer over medium-high flame. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in milk and vanilla. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate. Heat broiler, with rack 4” from heat. Top oatmeal with bananas and brown sugar and broil until bananas are caramelized, 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle with pecans to serve.
