Egg and spinach oatmeal with scallion and sesame

Ingredients

0 of 9 out on the counter

• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 4 medium scallions, white parts and green parts kept apart
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 3 cups packed baby spinach
• 1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 3½ cups water

All set! Everything is out. Time to bake.

Method

1. 1Slice the scallions. Keep the white parts and the green parts in two piles. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry small pan over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes, until they smell nutty, and tip them onto a plate.
2. 2Put the oats, the 3½ cups water, the scallion whites and the pepper in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to a low simmer. Stir often. At 5,300 ft water boils near 203 °F, so give it 8 to 10 minutes instead of the usual 6 to 8. It is done when the pot is thick and a spoon leaves a trail.
3. 3While the oats cook, lower the cold eggs into a small pot of simmering water. Cook 8 minutes at this altitude (our kitchen time; a 3-minute egg may take 5 at 5,000 ft, Colorado State University Extension), then move them to a bowl of cold water for 2 minutes and peel. The yolk is jammy, not set to 160 °F. For anyone pregnant, very young, older or ill, cook the eggs until the yolk is firm all the way through (HHS/USDA/FDA/CDC); cut one to check. The 8 minutes and the 2 minutes in cold water are our kitchen times, and the firm-yolk egg has no minute figure here because we hold no published one for 5,300 ft.
4. 4Take the oats off the heat. Lay the spinach on top, put the lid on and wait 1 minute, until the leaves wilt in the steam. Stir them in.
5. 5Spoon the oats into 2 bowls. Stir half the soy sauce and half the lemon juice into each bowl, so the salt sits where you can taste it.
6. 6Halve each egg and set it on top. Scatter the scallion greens and the sesame seeds over both bowls.
7. 7Cool leftover oats, without the egg, in a shallow container within 2 hours (1 hour if the room is above 90 °F), then refrigerate. Reheat to 165 °F with a splash of water.