Versatile &delicious
Once you think of a waffle iron as an indoor grill, you’re off to creativityland
Nobody hates waffles — yet. They’re too versatile and delicious to become antitrendy, the butt of infinite jokes, like kale and quinoa (and no, there is neither kale nor quinoa in the recipes below). They rise to the occasion of breakfast, sit down for a leisurely lunch, and feed a crowd at dinner.
They can be stuffed, but they simply can’t be stuffy. They can be savory, sweet, spicy, vegetarian, paleo, neat or messy, healthy or decadent. Waffles reign over a parade of YouTube videos (check out “Can You Waffle It?” and its ilk), and they are equally mesmerizing as brilliant successes (glazed doughnuts?) and hideous failures.
Yes, it’s true that to properly waffle, you will be required to buy a special, unitasking appliance. Suck it up, because once you think of a waffle iron as an indoor grill, you’re off to creativityland.
They also are ridiculously informal. They remind us, “Hey! Let’s eat!” So here are some things to worry, and not worry, about with waffles.
Do sweat:
• If that’s raw meat, cook it. Before you put it in a waffle iron, preferably.
• If that’s raw egg, you want the waffle that contains it to be cooked. Don’t worry if things are singed or burned; what you want to avoid is the uncookedinthemiddle waffle.
• What you put on them. Only put real things on your waffles. Real maple syrup or real agave or real honey or real fruit or real jam, or real tahini or tzatziki sauce. Or real sausage gravy. Waffles are casual, but for the love of batter, show some respect.
Don’t sweat:
• How your waffles look — overcooked, undercooked, tidy edge, messy edge. Practice makes perfect. Make lots of waffles. Try lots of different temperatures.
• How fluffy they are. Use the eggwhite trick in the Classic Fluffy Belgian Breakfast Waffle recipe below. Adjust the amount of baking powder or soda. Experiment. If your mix calls for liquid other than milk, and you want a really fluffy waffle, try adding unflavored seltzer. Make lots of waffles and take lots of notes.
Here are just a few ways you can waffle, from classic breakfast to dinner.
Classic Fluffy Almond Flour Waffles
Top these with peaches until those beauties go out of season, and add butter and maple syrup or vanilla ice cream. The almond flour makes them a little less fluffy, but a lot more substantial and healthy. Makes 4 square waffles Ingredients ½ cup allpurpose flour (wheat, or an
allpurpose glutenfree flour)
½ cup almond flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons honey
Cooking spray Directions
Preheat waffle iron to medium high. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl, preferably with a pouring lip. Separate the eggs. Beat together the yolks with the vanilla and honey; then add the yolks to the dry ingredients. Mix until wellcombined. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy and about doubled in volume. Fold into the flour and yolks mixture, stirring slowly until wellcombined. Pour into waffle iron until each square or quarter round is just filled. Close the lid and bake until timer goes off. Check waffles for doneness and cook longer if desired. Serve with soft butter and real maple syrup.
Falafel Waffles with Roasted Tomato Dressing Ingredients
1 cup falafel mix
2 teaspoons lemon juice Avocado cooking spray Cucumber slices
Tzatziki sauce
Roasted tomato dressing (recipe
below)
Directions
Prepare falafel mix according to package directions, with this exception: include two teaspoons lemon juice in the added liquid, if the directions do not already call for them. While the falafel mix is absorbing the liquid, preheat waffle iron to medium high. When mix is ready and the iron is preheated, drop a scant quartercup of falafel batter onto each square of a square waffle iron, or an eighth cup onto each triangle of a round waffle iron. Close and cook until waffle iron announces that it is done. Check waffles; they may need at least 2 additional minutes. Don’t worry if the batter sticks to the top plate; this will happen with irons built to make thicker waffles. When brown and crispy, loosen waffles with a nonstick utensil or a single chopstick. Serve warm with cucumber slices, tzatziki sauce and roasted tomato dressing.
Roasted tomato dressing
This is much easier than making tomato sauce, but it will have the seeds and skins. It’ll also have a fresh garden taste. Freezes well. Makes about 2 pints.
Ingredients
2 pounds small paste tomatoes ¼ cup fresh chopped basil 1 teaspoon garlic chive flowers or 1
garlic clove 2 tablespoons goodquality olive oil Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Wash and halve the tomatoes (quarter them if they are larger than a golf ball). Place tomatoes in a single layer in an ovensafe casserole. Add basil and garlic chive flowers and drizzle with olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Roast in oven for about one hour, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are soft and liquid is about half evaporated. Serve hot over fish and pasta, or cool and store in glass containers in the freezer.
Squaffles
If your kids grew squash this summer, reward them with this fun way to cook up the harvest together. Serves 4.
Ingredients
2 medium zucchini
1 small Rosa Bianca or other very mild
eggplant
1 medium yellow summer squash 1 beaten egg
1 cup fine Italian breadcrumbs 1½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoon paprika
Coconut or avocado oil cooking spray
for waffle iron
Directions
Wash the vegetables and remove stem and blossom ends. Slice on an extreme angle into quarterinchthick slices, yielding long ovals. Sprinkle the eggplant slices (not the zucchini or squash) with salt and remove to a colander over a plate; allow to drain for about an hour.
Preheat waffle iron to mediumhigh. Also preheat oven to its lowest setting and place an ovensafe casserole dish inside. Beat egg into a shallow bowl. In a second shallow bowl, combine breadcrumbs, salt, and paprika until evenly mixed. Taste breadcrumb mixture to correct seasonings; you want them to be fairly spicy. Pat vegetable slices dry, then dunk into beaten egg and roll in breadcrumbs, coating each side as evenly as possible.
When waffle iron is heated, spray with cooking spray. Arrange squaffle slices on waffle iron. Close lid; cook until coating is brown and crispy (this may be several minutes after the iron says they are done) and the squash are beginning to soften. Remove the squaffles as they are cooked to the preheated casserole dish. Serve warm.
Messy Chicken and Cheese Dinner Waffles
There are infinite variations on this waffling theme. With the cooked, shredded chicken (pulled off of a storebought rotisserie chicken is best) you can add ham and cheddar; or bacon and smoked gouda; or pancetta and fontina. Just keep the quantities of chicken, pork and cheese about the same as in this version. Makes 812 waffles Ingredients
½ cup chopped ham, pancetta, or
cooked bacon
3 cups finely shredded cooked chicken
meat
1 cup shredded hard or semihard cheese — cheddar or smoked gouda work well.
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons prepared Dijon or stone
ground mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 large egg (or two small) Coconut or avocado oil cooking spray
for waffle iron
Directions
Preheat the waffle iron to medium high. If using ham or pancetta, saute in a skillet over medium heat and drain on paper towels to remove some of the fat. Combine the pork, chicken, cheese, thyme, mustard and salt and pepper in a mixing bowl and stir until wellcombined. (Don’t hesitate to remove and rechop any chunks of chicken that aren’t fine enough.) Add seasonings and taste to correct. Break egg into a separate, small bowl and beat well. Add beaten egg to chicken mixture and stir again to combine well.
When waffle iron is preheated, spray with cooking spray. If your waffle iron is square, pack a scant halfcup of chicken mixture loosely into a scoop, then unload it into the center of one of the the four squares of a square waffle iron. Repeat with the other three squares. If your waffle iron is one of the smaller round ones, use a scant thirdcup measure for each quarterround. Close the iron and heat until the iron says the waffles are done. Check them first; if they don’t release easily, or stick to the lid, close it for another 1 to 2 minutes. Lift waffles with a nonstick tool, or if they are stubborn, loosen with a single chopstick.
Serve hot, with ranch, spicy ranch or bleu cheese dressing.