Stewed Rhubarb & Overnight Steel-Cut Oats

Sam and I love stewed rhubarb. True story: I first made rhubarb with my mother for the Medieval Feast in 6th Grade. I don’t remember how we found the recipe (pre-internet, maybe a library book?), but apparently stewed rhubarb folded into whipped cream- may we call it Rhubarb Fool- is medieval. (I went to wonky school where feasts like this were of regular occurrence.) Fun Fact: Rhubarb is a vegetable. If you aren’t familiar with it- it looks like big pink stalks. Not Fun Fact: the leaves are actually poisonous, so cut them off and don’t eat. Rhubarb is great on its own and I usually eat it that way. But it is also good on yogurt, oatmeal or ice cream, in a pie or crumble (often combined w. strawberries), with whipped cream or custard as a fool.

Stewed Rhubarb
This is for about 10 big stalks, but easily scaled. Wash stalks. Cut off ends and leaves. Chop into inch or 1/2 inch pieces. Put in a medium saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons of water. 1/2 cup sugar (can scale back to 1/3 if you like… I always do that then end up adding more in the end. Rhubarb on its own is very bitter). Simmer, uncovered over med heat for 15 mins. It will break down and turn into stew.

Overnight Steel-Cut Oats
This recipe comes from theKitchn. They have all sorts of recipes for no cook, over night cook oatmeal etc etc. I don’t really understand what this blog is– but useful nonetheless. This recipe is perfect if you like steel cut oats– but aren’t about to start fussing around in the morning.

1 cup oats
3 cups water
big pinch salt
1 teaspoon butter
1 cup milk (optional)

In a small saucepan, melt butter. Add oats and cook for 3 minutes, stirring, until smells nice and toasty. Add water and bring to a rolling boil. Cover pan. Turn off heat and let sit over night. In the morning- Presto! steel cut oats! (I don’t quite get how it works- but it does). Reheat, adding 1 cup milk, if you like (i do).
How do I normally take my oatmeal? With milk (char char first clued me into that), bananas and maple syrup. Any combo of fruit/dried fruit/brown sugar works for me too.