breakfast for a sunshiney day

New York weather sometimes feels miraculous. 

Just this week, it snowed eight inches in one night, and we trudged to the subway through fluff that reached well above our ankles. Today, most of us got on our jackets, went outside, turned right around, and came back in to shed them. It's warm out. It isn't just warm like put-on-a-sweatshirt-and-sit-outside-the-coffee-shop-shivering-in-the-sunshine warm. It's wear-your-t-shirt-and-jeans-and-bask-as-it-warms-your-face warm. It's the kind of warm that made me take a run around Prospect Park this morning instead of going to the gym as I had planned. I smiled as I stepped outside and walked down the stoop into a world that was a little different than yesterday's. In this sunny world of spring, there are young families strolling with their babies and confused toddlers, couples holding hands as they listen to music on shared iPod earphones, and very old men and women who have lived in the neighborhood for years. They walk slowly and let others pass them. They've walked these streets enough times to know that the sunshine feels best when one soaks in it at one's own pace.

This sunshiney day is the perfect time to try making millet porridge, if you haven't done so already. I've been experimenting with millet a lot over the past week or so, and I've wanted to share it with you. I prepared it in my rice cooker, and it turned out perfectly. You can also make it on the stove; I just didn't because I nearly burned my favorite pot to its death trying to make rice a few weeks ago. The night I made the millet, I ate it with a soupy green curry. And then there were leftovers.

When millet is prepared, it begs for a liquid to moisten it. The cooked grain itself has a nutty scent that reminds me of nutmeg. Milk, cream, or coconut milk complement it beautifully. Once you combine the grain with some type of milk, you can make endless additions to the cereal. I simply grated on some cinnamon and nutmeg and then pinched in a few drops of stevia. However, I think it would transport you to Fantasy Breakfast Land if you added any or all of the following: Apple sauce, chopped dates and pecans, dried cranberries and apricots, rehydrated raisins, fresh strawberries, citrus zest, agave nectar, raw honey, bee pollen, good preserves, sliced almonds, vanilla extract, pumpkin seeks, flax seeds, lavender blossoms, flax seeds...

Are you still there? Phew; I went off on a tangent there. Glad I didn't lose you. My point is, you can do a lot with this. You could also make it into a savory breakfast, or add an egg as I did for some more protein. 

One of the reasons millet appeals to me so very much is that it is gluten-free. It has been around for thousands of years (literally), a staple in many Indian, Russian, and African cuisines. It grows easily on soil that is bereft of nutrients, making it ideal to feed those living in arid climates. And it is free of gluten, meaning that those with wheat sensitivity or gluten allergies can eat it safely. As a flour, millet lends baked goods a tender crumb, though it doesn't allow them to rise. This makes it an excellent base for flatbreads. And so the recipe I present below is both gluten-free and vegan. While I eat nearly everything and have few food aversions, I know that many of you out there must be careful. And if you're unable to eat refined sugars and want to sweeten this up, try it with stevia as I did. 

Millet Porridge

Makes 4 servings

1 cup dry millet

2 cups coconut milk

Pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg, or other garnish of your choice

Step 1 (Rice Cooker Method): Rinse millet in a colander. Place it in rice cooker with three cups of water. Let the rice cooker do its magic, and proceed to step 2.

Step 1 (Stovetop Method): Rinse millet in a colander. Boil three cups of water, add millet, and return to a simmer. Cover and allow to simmer slightly for about 25 minutes, or until water has absorbed. Be careful that you keep the heat low enough that the grain doesn't burn onto the bottom of the pan (trust me). 

Step 2: Mix cooked millet with coconut milk in saucepan. Whisk together until porridge has warmed. Add your chosen garnish and mix it in, or spoon the porridge into bowls and sprinkle on top. 

-Kylie

Best Friends Forever

Have you ever had a best friend you've never met? Well, I have. Her name is Lorna Sass. If only we ever got the chance to meet, I know we'd be best friends forever and ever (and I'm talking about a friendship complete with matching necklaces, a secret language and a hidden fort). It's such a cruel fate that our paths have never crossed, because she gets me like no one else. She understands just how important a good bowl of warm oatmeal is on a cold winter morning. She embraces hominy and teff and sorghum and all the other oft-neglected grains. She even understands that wild rice is not actually a rice at all, but a member of the grass family! Sigh.

I met Lorna just this morning when I flipped open her book Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way while having my morning coffee. And, as I may have alluded to earlier, it was love at first read. Lorna, bless her soul, has traveled to the ends of the earth in order to find the best way to prepare and cook each grain as well as the tastiest accompanying flavors. I spent a dreamy hour browsing the recipe section until I found the perfect side-dish to accompany the steak that was planned for my dinner. It was delicious. Or, more specifically, it was sunny, hardy, fiery, and honeyed, topped with a spicy citrus bite. Just the type of unexpectedly sweet side-dish that should be shared with your new best friend. P.S. Lorna, if you're reading this, please do give me a call!

Wild Rice with Gingered Squash
Adapted from Whole Grains Every Day Every Way by Lorna Sass
Serves 6
Ingredients
1 medium butternut squash
salt to taste
1 to 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped finely (1/8 to 1/4 cup)
2 to 3 teaspoons honey
2 cups cooked wild rice
1tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest

Step One. Cook the wild rice. Rinse 3/4 cup dry wild rice grains. Place the rinsed rice in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan with 1 3/4 cup water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat, and in Lorna Sass' words, "cook until some of the rice splits open and some of the grains have 'butterflied' (split open and curled), 35 to 65 minutes." Done rice should be soft and chewy with just a hint of crunch. When the rice has finished cooking, cover it and let it stand for 5 minutes.

Step Two. Steam the squash. Peel and seed your squash before cutting it into 1 inch chunks. Pour 1 cup of water into a large, heavy saucepan. Add the salt and bring to a boil. Stir in half of the ginger. Add the squash and distribute the remaining ginger on top. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until the squash is tender, about 12-15 minutes. Check every few minutes and add boiling water, if needed to maintain the water level. When squash is tender, use a slotted spoon to transfer the squash to a serving platter and cover it so that it stays warm.

Step Three. Make the glaze. Stir 2 teaspoons of the honey into the cooking liquid, and boil over high heat until reduced and slightly syrupy, about 5 minutes. Stir in the wild rice, butter and orange zest, plus more honey, if desired. Lower the heat and simmer for another minute.

Step Four. Combine and serve! Pour the mixture over the squash, toss lightly, and serve immediately.

-Adriana

Grains on the brain (or, how I was fooled by a faking fruit)

Inspired by my recent Ode to Oatmeal, last night I ventured into the grain section of my local grocer. First amaranth, then barley, now farrow and millet. Endless possibilities of whole-grain goodness danced through my head...that is, until my eyes settled on an unassuming box towards the bottom of the shelf. "Kasha?" The name seemed better suited to a Russian poodle than to an oddly pyramidal-shaped, dark-brown grain, but having never met a grain I didn't like, I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. Into my cart it went where it settled alongside the rest of my impulse buys.

This morning, however, a little pre-breakfast googling revealed a shocking truth. Yes, I had been hoodwinked by this innocent-looking grain...or should I say FRUIT! That's right, though it behaves and tastes a whole lot like a whole grain, Kasha is in fact toasted buckwheat groats. Buckwheat is actually not a wheat at all, but rather a fruit from the same family as rhubarb and sorrel. Ok, maybe not that shocking of a truth, but at the very least a good fact to know for cocktail parties.

My stomach was growling so I put away my laptop (and my indignation at having been tricked by a side-dish) and set to work preparing my kasha. This was my first attempt at cooking it, and I decided to make it into a sweet, breakfast porridge. The result was tasty, simple, filling and unique...could you ask more from your breakfast meal? For those of you stuck in a breakfast rut, I highly recommend seeking out this funny-shaped grain fruit.

Sweet Breakfast Kasha - Serves 3

Ingredients
1 cup kasha
1 egg, lightly beaten
2.5 cups boiling water
Cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom or any other sweet spices that you like
Whole milk and your favorite sweetener

Step 1: Beat the egg in a saucepan and then mix the dry cup of kasha and your spices into the egg until everything is evenly coated.

Step 2: Bring water to a boil in a kettle, and then add it to the saucepan with the kasha in it. Bring the entire mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce to low heat and cover.

Step 3: Let the kasha simmer for 20 minutes, and then remove from heat.

Step 4: Sprinkle sweetener (I like brown sugar, personally) over the fluffed up kasha and pour milk over the mixture.

Step 5: Tuck right in to your toothsome bowl of breakfast bliss.

If you're cooking for one, toss the extra kasha into a tightly covered container and refrigerate it for tomorrow's breakfast!

For you nutrition nuts out there, I have some more wonderful news: one little serving of kasha has 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber, enough to keep your belly happy (and quiet) all the way through your 11am staff meeting. Plus, this audacious snack is filled with vitamins and minerals, especially packing in the magnesium, manganese, copper and niacin.

-Adriana