Steel Cut Oats with Roasted Walnuts and Golden Raisins

Steel cut oats have a firmer texture and require longer cooking than rolled oats. This recipe is modified from an Alton Brown recipe on Food Network, broadcast in 2008.

1 T butter
1 c steel cut oats
3 c boiling water
1/2 c milk
1/2 c buttermilk
1/2 t salt
2 T brown sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 c ground roasted walnuts
1/4 c golden raisins

In a large saucepan, melt the butter and when sizzling stops, add the oats. Stir for a few minutes to toast. Stir in the boiling water, salt, milk, and half the buttermilk. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 30 minutes, without stirring. Stir in the raisins, nuts, the reserved buttermilk and let stand covered for 10 minutes off heat. Garnish each serving with a few chopped nuts or a pinch of cinnamon. Serves 4 generously.

Apple Sauce

Adapted from an Alton Brown microwave recipe. Similar apple varieties, one tart, two sweet, can be substituted. First prepared April 22, 2012.

1 Golden Delicious apple
2 Fuji or similar apples
1/2 c apple cider
1 T brandy
1 T butter
1 T brown sugar
1/4 t ground cinnamon
pinch ground nutmeg
pinch salt and pepper

Peel, quarter, core, and coarsely chop the apples into half-inch pieces. Combine with the other ingredients in a two-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook covered at a slow boil for about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apples are soft. Off heat, mash to a coarse texture. Let cool covered and undisturbed to permit natural pectin to thicken the sauce. Serve warm or cold, with pork roast, pork chops, pancakes, potato pancakes, oatmeal or other hot cereal, or on its own as a light snack, dusted with a little cinnamon-sugar topping.
Variation #1: Stir 1/4 cup of ground roasted walnuts into the sauce half way through cooking for extra flavor and nourishment. 
Variation #2: replace a Fuji with the flesh from a ripe Japanese persimmon.

Riced Yellow Potatoes

Recorded February 28, 2010. Transcribed and modified from the video recipe on Cook's Illustrated PBS TV program.

4 to 5 medium yellow potatoes (Yukon Gold™, or similar)
1/2 c hot half and half
1/4 c low-fat soft margarine
salt and pepper to taste

Peel the potatoes and cut into eight equal parts. Place in the basket of a steamer over boiling water and cover tightly. Steam vigorously for 20 to 25 min, until potatoes are soft to the tip of a sharp knife. Transfer to a potato ricer (see NOTE), and rice into a mixing bowl, batch by batch. Stir with a spoon, pouring in the hot cream (hot promotes a creamy and not grainy texture according to Alton Brown). Keeps it hot too of course. Mix until well combined. Add the margarine and keep stirring. Season to taste and whip by hand until smooth.
NOTE DrDaddy also likes the ricer identified in tests at America's Test Kitchen as the best around. RSVP™ International SPUD Potato Ricer 13.5-in