Equipment
Ingredients
Creamy Oat Groats
- 200 g oat groats, rinsed
- 800 ml vegetable broth, hot
- 1 shallot, minced
- 15 ml olive oil
- 60 ml white wine
Hollandaise Sauce
- 3 egg yolks, room temperature
- 150 g unsalted butter, melted and warm
- 15 ml lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 5 ml water
- salt
- cayenne pepper
Garnish
- 10 g fresh chives, finely chopped
- 5 g fresh dill, chopped
- lemon zest
- flaky sea salt
Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition is estimated per serving. Nutrients without complete source data are omitted.
Full nutrition
- Calories
- 582 kcal
- Protein
- 10 g
- Carbohydrates
- 38 g
- Fat
- 42 g
- Fiber
- 5 g
- Sugar
- 4 g
- Sodium
- 1261 mg
- Saturated Fat
- 21 g
- Monounsaturated Fat
- 13 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat
- 2 g
- Cholesterol
- 237 mg
- Potassium
- 227 mg
- Calcium
- 56 mg
- Iron
- 1.8 mg
- Magnesium
- 9 mg
- Phosphorus
- 83 mg
- Zinc
- 0.4 mg
- Vitamin A
- 389 mcg
- Vitamin C
- 7 mg
- Vitamin D
- 0.8 mcg
- Vitamin E
- 1.8 mg
- Vitamin K
- 5 mcg
- Vitamin B6
- 0.1 mg
- Vitamin B12
- 0.3 mcg
- Thiamin
- 0.04 mg
- Riboflavin
- 0.10 mg
- Niacin
- 0.1 mg
- Folate
- 28 mcg
- Water
- 27 g
Sources: Aggregated Public Data, USDA FoodData Central
Method
Heat vegetable broth in a separate pot or kettle until hot but not boiling. Keep warm.
In a heavy-bottomed pot, sauté the minced shallot in olive oil over medium heat until translucent and soft, about 3 minutes.
Add the rinsed oat groats to the pot. Toast them, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes until they smell nutty. If using wine, deglaze the pan now and stir until fully evaporated.
Pour in the hot vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer gently. Cook for 45-55 minutes until groats are tender but chewy (al dente) and most liquid is absorbed.
While oats finish, prepare a bain-marie: set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water (ensure bowl bottom does not touch water). Whisk egg yolks, cold water, and lemon juice in the bowl until thickened and pale yellow.
Slowly drizzle in the melted warm butter while whisking constantly and vigorously to form a thick emulsion. Remove from heat immediately. Season with salt and cayenne pepper.
Divide the creamy oat groats into warm bowls. Ladle a generous amount of hollandaise over the top. Garnish with chopped chives, dill, fresh lemon zest, and flaky sea salt.
Chef's Notes
- Soaking the oat groats in cold water overnight will reduce the cooking time by about 20 minutes.
- For the hollandaise, ensure your butter is warm (50°C-60°C/120°F-140°F), not boiling hot, to prevent scrambling the yolks.
- This dish mimics the texture of a savory risotto but with a lower glycemic index and higher fiber content.
- If the oats are cooked before the sauce is ready, keep them covered off the heat; they retain heat very well.
Storage
Refrigerator: 3 days — Store cooked groats separately. Hollandaise should be made fresh.
Freezer: 1 month — Freeze cooked groats only; do not freeze hollandaise.
Reheating: Reheat groats with a splash of water on the stove. Hollandaise breaks upon reheating.
Troubleshooting
Hollandaise sauce splits or looks oily
Cause: Butter added too quickly or mixture got too hot
Fix: Whisk a teaspoon of warm water into a clean bowl, then slowly whisk the broken sauce into the water to re-emulsify
Prevention: Add butter drop by drop initially and control heat
Oat groats are tough after 1 hour
Cause: Groats are old or heat was too low
Fix: Add 50ml more hot water or broth and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes
Prevention: Soak groats overnight to speed up cooking
Cultural Context
This dish applies the classic French 'sauce mère' (mother sauce) technique of Hollandaise to the humble oat groat. Historically a staple of Scottish and Nordic peasant diets, whole oats are elevated here to a brunch centerpiece, bridging rustic grain traditions with Parisian refinement.
