We just had five days of absolute fun! Our friends from California flew in to spend the 4th with us and we couldn’t have felt more blessed to hang out with some of the closest people we have in our lives.

With all the eating-out we did, it was great to just spend breakfasts at home and have a couple vegetarian meals here and there. If you have the book, you MUST try the Spicy Soba Noodles with Lacquered Eggplant recipe in Gourmet Today.

One morning, I woke up earlier than everyone else did (ok, every morning!) and decided to make steel-cut oats. It’s about a 40-minute process, and the oats in the end are worth it. There was even enough to refrigerate and reheat with some milk the next morning. I also made a blueberry compote with the blueberries we froze from Moorhead’s Blueberry Farm (our blueberries were really sweet, so I didn’t add a lot of brown sugar. If yours are kind of sour, feel free to add more). Our friends, K & J, were really happy. I served it in the make-it-yourself fashion, because everyone adds their own amount of sweetener and milk to the hot cereal. A bowl of steel-cut oats and blueberry compote topped with walnuts and coffee, and we were ready to start the day!

Steel-Cut Oatmeal with Blueberry Compote
oatmeal serves about 8, with about 1 cup of compote

for the oatmeal:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups steel-cut oats
4 cups boiling water
pinch salt

for the blueberry compote:
1 1/2 cups blueberries, frozen or fresh
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

accompaniments:
milk or cream
brown sugar
honey
cinnamon
nutmeg
walnuts or almonds

For the oatmeal, melt the butter over medium-high heat in a 5-quart Dutch oven. Add the raw oats and let it toast with the butter, about 2 minutes. Add the boiling water to the oats and lower the heat to medium, stirring every few minutes for about 40 minutes. The oatmeal is done when the oats are tender and slightly chewy.

For the blueberry compote, add the blueberries, sugar, lemon zest, and cornstarch mixture to a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir every few minutes until mixture slightly thickens and frozen blueberries cook down a bit.

To serve, just bring out the pot of hot cooked oats, blueberry compote, and accompaniments with some bowls on the side. People can help themselves to however much of anything they like!