Donegal Oatmeal Cream

This recipe is from the European Cuisines website ( http://www.europeancuisines.com/Ireland-Irish-Donegal-Oatmeal-Sweet-Cream-Dessert-Nonalcoholic ) which features both traditional and modern recipes from European countries. This recipe is traditional (i.e. "old" ) Irish and calls for "pinhead oats" which you may find in your local supermarket as "steel cut oats." It warns against trying to substitute rolled oats in this recipe! I haven't made this recipe yet so times are estimated. Cooking time includes the soaking time for the oats.

• Ready In: 12 hrs 30 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 15  fluid ounces milk
• 1⁄2 cup pinhead oats
• 1  pinch salt
• 1  large egg, beaten
• 1  orange, grated rind and juice of (a bitter Seville orange is best if you can get one)
• 2  tablespoons sugar
• 1⁄2 ounce gelatin
• 2  tablespoons water
• 8  ounces heavy cream, whipped
• 3⁄4-1  cup  fruit sauce, any flavor (any slightly thinned fruit jam works well)

Directions

1. The night before:
2. Scald the milk (i.e., heat it to just before boiling but do not let it boil) and remove from heat.
3. Add the oatmeal and the pinch of salt: stir, cover, and soak the oatmeal overnight in the milk.
4. The next day:
5. Reheat the oatmeal and milk mixture just until it boils. Simmer for another 3-4 minutes, then remove from heat.
6. Pour the mixture into a bowl and add the beaten egg, grated lemon rind, and sugar to taste.
7. Dissolve the gelatine in the orange juice and water.
8. Add this to the mixture when it's cooled, and then carefully fold in the whipped cream.
9. Pour the whole mixture into a single glass bowl, or into individual parfait glasses, and leave to set. (You may want to stir the contents gently once or twice while they're setting, to keep the oats from sinking to the bottom.).
10. Serve with more whipped cream and 3-4 tablespoons of your chosen fruit sauce on top.
11. Another more parfait-like approach to this dessert: allow the whole recipe's worth of oatmeal cream to set in a single bowl. Stir gently as above, so that the oatmeal is evenly distributed through the mixture when it's set. Then spoon it into parfait glasses, alternating layers of oatmeal cream with more whipped cream and drizzles of fruit sauce.
12. If you want to cut back on the calories a little, you could also substitute creme fraiche or beaten low-fat sour cream for the whipped cream.