Soaked Oatmeal with Wild Honeycomb, Mascarpone and Fried Bananas
Steel-cut oats are soaked overnight in cool, filtered water with a little lemon juice before being cooked with cinnamon and freshly-grated nutmeg. Topped with banana slices fried in cultured butter with Tahitian vanilla, mascarpone thinned with fresh cream and a sprinkling of wild-harvested bee pollen..
Soaked Oatmeal with Wild Honeycomb, Mascarpone and Fried Bananas
For the Oats
1 cup traditional, steel-cut oats
1 cup cool, filtered water for soaking
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups filtered water for cooking
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons wild honeycomb
1 teaspoon wild-harvested bee pollen (not propolis)
Combine oats, water and lemon juice in a non-reactive bowl. Cover and allow to stand overnight. Transfer oats to a heavy saucepan, add water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and keep warm until ready to use.
For the Bananas
1 just-ripe banana, bias-cut into 1/2 inch slices
2 tablespoons cultured butter
1 Tahitian vanilla bean, split and scraped
Melt butter in a heavy bottomed skillet over medium-low heat. Scrape vanilla into pan and swirl to disperse. Add bananas and cook until golden brown. Flip and cook until the other side is browned, about 8 minutes. Total. Pour remaining butter into oatmeal.
For the Mascarpone
1 pint raw, fresh cream (ultra-pasteurized cream will not work)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon filtered water
Heat the cream in a double-boiler until it reaches 185 degrees. Mix water and lemon juice and add to the cream; it should thicken right away. Keep mixture at 185 degree for a full 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Transfer mixture to a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight. Transfer to a cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a clean bowl, refrigerate allow allow to separate 12-24 hours. Mascarpone will keep in the refrigerator for about 1 week.
To serve, spoon warm oatmeal into a bowl and drizzle cream-tinned mascarpone around the perimeter. Top with fried bananas and a spoonful of honeycomb and sprinkle with bee pollen.
Jenn said,
March 13, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Ohmygods, I think I just had an oatmeal-related orgasm. And I don’t even like bananas. I will be making this in a few months with peaches when they come in.
Ren said,
March 13, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Thanks! I think the peaches sound even better :)
Erin said,
March 18, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Ren,
As always, your food AND photos are AMAZ-ZA-ZING!
I’m going to try this STAT! oooh, and I just got some fresh new vanilla beans from Azure! Woot!
Ren said,
March 18, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Thanks, Erin!