How Oprah's Chef Makes Creamy Pasta Sauce With No Dairy

Wouldn't it be lovely to be a billionaire like Oprah? If you were, then you, too, could have a personal chef at your beck and call. (Just giving your microwave a name doesn't count, though I must say my Pip Boy does a fantastic job nuking dollar store discount meals). Still, even the greatest good fortune does come with a downside, and in Oprah's case, she found that it took some convincing to get her butter-obsessed French chef on board with her no-dairy dietary regime. When Philippe Chevalier first joined her household, she told Oprah Daily: "I had to have a come-to-Jesus moment with him. Although butter is bread's best friend, it is not mine." So, the star requested that he refrain from using either butter or cream when making her favorite lemon pasta with peas and mushrooms.

When your ultra-wealthy employer commands, you comply, so Chevalier put on his chapeau de réflexion and came up with a workaround: DIY oat milk. Oat milk consists of oats blended with water, and Chevalier makes his by boiling steel-cut oats to the consistency of watery oatmeal, then straining out the solid stuff. This results in a thick liquid that Oprah claims makes a pasta dish that's just as tasty as one with a more standard white sauce.

If you want to make DIY oat milk as a heavy cream substitute for your pasta or coffee, the simplest way to do so is to combine four parts of water with one part oats and blend them for about 30 seconds. Don't blend too long, though, since this tends to make the oat milk slimy. If you want thicker oat milk, you can use less water or simmer it down to reduce the liquid.

You will, of course, need to strain out the oats before you use the oat milk, but there's no need to discard the pulp. If you're a gardener, you can always compost it, but there are other ways to put it to good use. Let it dry, then use it in place of rolled oats in oatmeal cookies — if you're not a fan of the raisin kind, these "Great British Baking Show"-inspired oatmeal ginger slices are a lovely alternative. You can also try using dried oat pulp for other baked goods such as our easy apple crisp dessert or copycat oatmeal creme pie. Dried oat pulp can also be used as a body scrub or mixed with plain yogurt to make a facial exfoliant.