The Most Important Meal of the Day: Cacio Pepe Oatmeal with Spinach

I'll say this first: I never was one for breakfast. It wasn't until the last few years that breakfast has become a must-have. Before then, I could easily sail through the morning on a big cup of coffee and not much else. Maybe I'd throw in a piece of toast, but it usually was just coffee. I was worse in college. My first meal of the day was usually lunch. After, you know, the giant cup of coffee. I never ate breakfast in high school. Now, this doesn't mean I didn't like what was served at breakfast. I love eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles, fritatas, quiche, sausage, hashbrowns, everything you'll find on any diner menu - I love. But, I have this weird thing where I just cannot bring myself to eat right when I get up. There has to be this delay. I don't understand people who get up and immediately eat. It actually makes me sick to think about it. But I've had to change my tune when I started Weight Watchers, which is when I really started to hone my breakfast skills. Of course, eating a solid breakfast helps combat snacking and helps your blood sugar maintain a steady level through the morning, so it was only natural to start eating breakfast. I used to make a pretty hefty breakfast sandwich with an egg, bacon, and spinach on a whole wheat English Muffin; all together not as point-heavy as you'd think. So, on a daily basis, I've come around to breakfast.

Whenever I bring up what I eat these days for breakfast, I'm usually met by a confused expression on my companion's face. Last year, I came across a section in an issue of Womens Health that was all about oatmeal. It included 4 or 5 different recipes for oatmeal, some sweet and some savory. I tried a few of them and fell in love with one: Cacio e Pepe Oatmeal. Cacio e Pepe, when describing a pasta dish, is simply fresh pasta tossed with Parmesan cheese, lots of freshly ground black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Sounds pretty great, huh? Well, I thought it'd be great, too, for breakfast. It goes without saying that not all oatmeal needs to be sweet. I grew up on the instant packets of Maple Brown Sugar and loved every sugary bite. I never really cared for fruit in my oatmeal; I liked it more plain than chock full of stuff. Before I found this article, I would've never thought to branch out my oatmeal tastes. I never really thought oatmeal could be savory, but I was oh so wrong. The result of my first batch of this particular dish was delicious: creamy, warm, savory, and peppery. It reminded me of a big bowl of cheesy risotto. Originally, I made this with standard rolled oats (never instant). I then made a move to steel-cut and I've never moved away since. I love steel-cut oats: they're chewy and they retain their overall texture when they've been cooked. The only thing against them is that they take a long time to cook, but I've adjusted my morning routine to accommodate the time required. Luckily, it's not like risotto in that you have to keep stirring, but you certainly don't want the pot to go completely dry.

This particular oatmeal dish eventually evolved over time. One of the other recipes in this article was a Florentine-style oatmeal, with Monterey Jack cheese and an egg on top. This seemed a little TOO heavy for every morning, but I loved the idea of adding something green to my bowl. I honestly am not a huge fan of raw spinach, but I'll happily add cooked spinach to pretty much everything I can. So, I snagged the spinach from this other oatmeal dish and added it to mine and I got a dish that was cheesy, creamy, peppery, now with a slight bite/crunch from the wilted spinach. It also turned my rather indulgent breakfast into something much more nutritious. Chock full of protein, iron, and Vitamin C, it keeps me full through the morning. Within the last couple of weeks, this bowl has evolved again. One morning, as I stood at my counter making my breakfast, my eye was caught by the little container of cherry tomatoes. "I wonder..." I grabbed a handful and plopped them on top of everything else. I was pleasantly surprised with the result. As you can probably imagine, this is a very heavy meal. The sweet-tart burst from the cherry tomatoes cuts through the thick oatmeal and really brightens up the meal overall. I love the combination and it's elevated my breakfast into something I eagerly tuck into, instead of picking at while driving to work.

Cacio e Pepe Oatmeal with Spinach and Tomatoes
Serves 1


1-1/2 C Water
1/4 C Steel Cut Oats
About a Handful of Baby Spinach
About 2 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese, grated
A few turns of the Pepper Grinder
5 or 6 Sweet Plum or Cherry Tomatoes
Really (and I mean REALLY) Good Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

1. Bring the water to a boil, stir in oats. Reduce eat to a simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes. If after 20 minutes your oatmeal is still watery, cook another 5 minutes and/or perhaps up the heat a bit. You don't want the oatmeal to completely dry out, but you don't want soup either. It took me a number of tries to get things the way I like them.
2. Meanwhile, add the grated cheese (or grate the cheese directly into) and fresh ground pepper to your serving bowl.
3. Add in the spinach and fold into the oatmeal. Cook until the spinach is wilted.
4. Pour oatmeal and spinach over the cheese and pepper in the bowl and stir. The cheese will melt into the oatmeal.
5. If you want, sprinkle a little more cheese and pepper on top of the oatmeal. Then top with the plum or cherry tomatoes. Finally, drizzle a little of the olive oil over top.