“accidental ingredients.”
oatmeal with a bartlett pear, fresh lavender, cashews, and strawberries.
This is the last post where I mention my birthday. I swear.
In my office, we celebrate birthdays with some sort of treat, typically a favorite of the one turning a year older. Cupcakes are a usual choice; one occasion brought ice cream sandwiches, another beer and wine.
For my birthday? I was presented with a bowl brimming with organic fruit and two bars of dark, local [Brooklyn!] chocolate. I think ten months of arriving with homemade salads, lentil curries, quinoa, fresh fruit, and Fage may have made an impression.
It was a cute choice, and as an added plus, I didn’t have to buy fruit this week. They even got me local New York state apples. Aw.
Part of the fruit spread was a bowl full of strawberries, and as the ruby fruit is not exactly at its peak in October, I thought they would be best enjoyed warm, bringing out their natural sugars to enhance their flavor.
This breakfast was a happy union of accidental ingredients. My mom happened to have brought me a couple Bartlett pears over the weekend, and one had become spotted with brown bruises, looking a bit more forlorn each day I neglected it. It was asking to be eaten.
And, a few days earlier, I had made a farmers market impulse buy of fresh lavender. Wooed by a white-haired woman offering herbs of all kinds – Thai basil, lemon verbena, spearmint – my mind raced with the excitement of culinary possibility. In the end, lavender won out, because I didn’t have a clue what to do with it. The lure of a challenge made me do it.
So, thanks to my coworkers, my mom, and my fascination with odd herbs, I stood over my stove at 7AM on Tuesday, tossing lavender leaves into a pot with rolled oats, clueless as to what outcome this would achieve.
The recipe ended up fruity and refreshing, and though not terribly seasonal, the addition of the strawberries felt nice on a cool autumn day. Springtime fruit will always make a frosty morning seem a bit warmer, and with November just three days away, that kind of comfort was just what I needed.
♦♦♦
bartlett pear oatmeal with lavender and cashews [for one]
- 1/2 c rolled oats
- 1 c milk of your choice [i used organic soy]
- 1 bartlett pear, chopped into 1/2 ” pieces
- 1/2 T fresh lavender
- 1 t vanilla
- 1 t cinnamon
- 1/4 t ground ginger
- 1/4 c raw cashews, halved
Heat oats, milk, pear, and lavender in saucepan. Cook over medium heat until thick, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and cashews. Serve immediately.
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What a neat idea… I wish I had thought of this during the summer because we had lavender out the wing-wang on the farm. I bet the oatmeal smelled heavenly.