The Dinner Files

I think I’ve reached my minor holiday limit for the year and, as you are probably aware, it’s only mid-February. They’re great when you have an office job or go to school or in some other way get the day off, but when you’re self-employed and have a kid they just mess up your week. Although they do keep the email levels low, which I enjoy.

There it is! The bright side! I get many fewer “Experience the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco” and “Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club Offering ‘Family Fun Package’” announcements from public relations “specialists” who have thrown me on their lists with neither rhyme nor reason, fewer emails about new cheeses, and even fewer postings from a food studies list serve that I adore but can, quite frankly, get a little out of hand, as when the discussion thread about raw milk runs into the triple digits.

The other bright side of today’s holiday was the smile on Ernest’s face when he got waffles for breakfast on a Monday. You would think a professional grade food writer would know how to fill a waffle iron so that it didn’t over-run quite so much, wouldn’t you?

Buttermilk cornmeal waffles

These are not as good as my magical yeasted waffles, but you’re probably never going to make those, and these are almost as good and there is no reason not to just make a batch whenever because it takes about 5 minutes to make the batter. It didn’t used to take 5 minutes. It used to take 10 because I’d separate the eggs and beat the whites to make them fluffy so the waffles would be extra fluffy. And then one morning I didn’t because I was feeling very put-upon but had promised the boy waffles. And guess what? That’s right: No one noticed. Not even me. They’re delicious and fast and I don’t understand pancake/waffle mixes at all.

Oh yeah, and you could totally eat these for dinner.

5 Tbsp. butter
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 to 4 Tbsp. sugar (I use 4 Tbsp., which is 1/4 cup, which is kind of a lot of sugar for waffles because I don’t like maple syrup – that’s right, I don’t like it – so I like the base waffle item sweeter than those who are going to douse it with super-sweet goo. If you’re going to do that, keep the sugar to 2 Tbsp.)
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 salt
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat your waffle iron. Melt the butter and set it aside. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together the liquid ingredients in a medium bowl or a large (4 cup) measuring cup if you have one. Pour liquid into dry and whisk to combine. Whisk in 4 Tbsp. of the melted butter.
Use last bit of melted butter to brush waffle iron. Pour in the right amount of batter (clearly, I have no idea how much that is – I’ve never seen your iron and look what I do with my own!), cook, and serve piping hot.
If you make extras you can put them in a bag or wrap in plastic and freeze and then just toast them up on some future chilly morning. They’re not as good as fresh, but they’re still pretty damn tasty. (They’re also more of a treat than the broccoli pasta I made last night.)