Buttermilk Corn Bread Waffles

I'd been thinking about corn bread several times over the last few weeks, but hadn't really had anything lined up in the menu that sounded good with corn bread.  But when Justin took all of the Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuits to work with him this morning, it didn't leave us with anything to eat with our leftover chicken pot pie filling.   My first instinct was to just bake some corn bread, but as I was whipping up a batter, I decided some crispy waffles sounded way better.

VERY COOL NOTE:  I actually learned something cool and healthy as I was making these - you can use ground up flax seeds mixed with water to substitute eggs!  My recipe requires 2 eggs and of course, midway through making the recipe with all my dry ingredients mixed, I realized I only had 1 egg in the fridge.  I figured I could use a little extra butter to kind of substitute it, and after Googling, that is an option, but another option I found sounded way cooler.  1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons water substitutes 1 egg... thank you very much, vegans!  It's probably not a good substitute for most people because I imagine most people don't keep flax seeds on hand.  We, however, often have some in our freezer for making granola.
(This site I found has a list of 5 Egg Substitutes - great resource!)

I also recognize that most people don't keep buttermilk in their fridge like we do.  You could make this recipe with whole milk, but you have to do a little more adjusting than just that.  Do not use baking soda, but instead add 2 additional teaspoons of baking powder for a total of 3 teaspoons.  Buttermilk has a higher acid content and needs the baking soda in baking applications.  It's science... you heard?

I'm listening to Lagwagon's "Razor Burn" as I am typing this sentence, so that's the rock I'm going with.  -jen

BUTTERMILK CORN BREAD WAFFLES
Prep Time:  10 minutes
Cook Time:  25-30 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  5-6 waffles

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup flour
• 4 tablespoons sugar (2 tbsp if you like your corn bread less sweet)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten (or 2 tbsp ground flax seeds mixed with 6 tbsp water)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted (or melted coconut oil)

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking power, baking soda and salt.

In a small mixing bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs and melted butter.  Create a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients all at once.  Mix just until all dry ingredients are combined.  Spoon into waffle maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions.  (Mine cooked in 5 minutes.)

Note:  If you wanted to just bake corn bread using this recipe, just grease a square (9"x9") baking dish, pour in batter and bake in an oven preheated to 400 F for 15-20 minutes.

Served with chicken pot pie filling

Basil Hollandaise Sauce

Justin and I aren't really breakfast eaters, but sometimes one of us will crave it, and then we'll go out somewhere and over pay for eggs and toast and poor service.  This morning, I really wanted breakfast, and we almost went out for it, but in the end, I was like, "Screw that!  I'll make us some eggs Benedict!"  Topped 'em with Asiago cheese.

I've heard trained chefs scoff at hollandaise made in the blender... but we've done it the traditional way plenty of times, and we both agree that in the blender is just as tasty and super easy.  My Benedicts were definitely not traditional.  I used some pastrami that we had and decided that I wanted to use up the egg whites, so I scrambled them with a few whole eggs and basil (instead of the traditional poached eggs).  So I decided to go with some basil hollandaise too, and it was great!

No idea why I was singing this in the kitchen this morning while making these, but I had a broken record in my head with this lyric, "...it's already better than last time I ruined another girl's life..."  Lagwagon's "Dinner And A Movie".  -jen

BLENDER BASIL HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
Time: 3 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes: about 3/4 cup

• 1 stick butter (8 tablespoons)
• 4 large egg yolks
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons
• 1 small garlic clove (about 1/8 teaspoon)
• dash of Sriracha 
• 3-4 large basil leaves 
• salt and pepper to taste

In a microwave safe container that you can pour easily out of (I use my glass measuring cup because it has a pour spout), melt butter for 30 seconds, then 15 additional seconds at a time as needed, until entirely melted.

In a blender combine egg yolks, lemon zest and juice, garlic and Sriracha.  Roughly tear up basil leaves and add them.  Begin blending on lowest speed.  While blending, slowly drizzle in melted butter then blend for 5 seconds more.  Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.  (If you use salted butter, you may not need to add additional salt.)

Tip:  Wondering what to do with those egg whites?  I add 2 whole eggs to them and scramble it up with some more torn up basil, which makes enough for 2-4 folks (depending on how much you can eat at breakfast, I guess!  It makes enough to top 4 English muffin halves.)

Pastrami and basil scrambled eggs with basil hollandaise sauce on English muffins topped with Asiago cheese.

Cauliflower "Couscous" Salad

This recipe is vegan/vegetarian, gluten-free, and low-carb!  Oh yeah, and it tastes amazing.  We try to eat low-carb most of the time and jumping on the cauliflower bandwagon the other day, I was making some pizza crust out of cauliflower, cheese and eggs.  I was supposed to "rice" the cauliflower in the food processor, but I did it a little too long and the pieces came out more like couscous than rice.  Then I mixed in some minced garlic and dried oregano as  part of the crust recipe, and decided to give it a taste.  Totally gave me the idea to do a couscous salad out of it.

I can't actually tell you how incredibly stoked I am at how good this came out.  I really enjoy Mediterranean-style cold salads.  I used to do them with rice, but I don't eat rice anymore.  So we started doing them with barley and couscous... but they're still pretty high-carb.  This solved the problem and I foresee us having this salad in the fridge on a frequent basis for lunches during the work week and quick dinners.

I decided to go with Lagwagon's "I Must Be Hateful".  I was feeling pretty hateful tonight towards a medical issue I'm having.  Seemed apropos.  -jen

CAULIFLOWER "COUSCOUS" SALAD
Prep Time:  10 minutes
Cook Time:  10 minutes
Makes:  About 6 cups
Requires:  Food Processor

• 1 large head of cauliflower, diced large
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 2/3 cup English cucumber, seeded and diced small
• 2/3 cup bell pepper, diced small
• 1/2 cup green onions, diced small
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, diced small
• 1/2 cup carrot, shredded
• 1/4 cup green olives, chopped
• 1/4 cup giardiniera, chopped (optional)
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh basil, julienned or chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• juice of 1 whole lemon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Place large-diced cauliflower in food processor and process until it looks like cooked couscous.  Place in a large, microwave-safe bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap (I recommend using glass so the plastic wrap sticks).  Microwave on high for 10 minutes.  Fluff with fork.

Add all remaining ingredients and stir until mixed.  At this point, you can serve it while it's still warm, or refrigerate and serve chilled.

Per 1 Cup Serving:  Calories-130, Fat-9g, Carbs-11.5, Fiber-4, Protein-3g

Jerk Chicken with Plantain Chips & Salad

I've done a couple different variations of this recipe at home now and still haven't gotten it perfected but it's still awesome and a really quick and easy way to get some Caribbean flavors in your belly.  This version isn't too hot even though it has two habaneros because de-seeding them takes out most of the heat.  So if you like a hotter meal, only de-seed one of the peppers or if you like nuclear heat, don't de-seed at all.

I served this with a simple fresh salad and some fried plantain chips on the side to try and stick to the Caribbean theme but when I went to make my mango salad I discovered that my mango was no good and so I substituted an apple and a fresh tomato that I had making it decidedly less Caribbean but still pretty tasty.

To go with this recipe I went for some Lagwagon, Falling Apart, since they are one of our favorites in this house and we have yet to feature them in a post.  Shocking!  Not sure how they slipped under our radar but no longer will they escape this blog!

 

Jerk Chicken
Time: Marinade - 15 minutes, Chicken - 25 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 8+

• 2 habanero peppers, stemmed and seeded
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 medium yellow onion, about 1 cup
• 1/2 cup chopped scallion
• 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger 
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 3/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 4 cloves garlic
• juice of 3 limes
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro

Now, the marinade part is simple.  Throw all of the above in a blender or food processor and let her rip till at all blends into a smooth homogenous mixture, a couple of minutes ought to do.  When everything is all chopped, blended, liquified, and incorporated, simply toss your chicken in a container with the mix and let it marinade for at least overnight, but the longer you let it go, the better it gets.  I usually let it sit for 24 hours.  Anything over 48 hrs is not going to do much for you.

Note: If you are only making enough to serve 2-3 people, halve the marinade recipe as this easily makes enough to cover 8+ pieces of chicken.

When you are ready to do up the chicken you have a couple of options.  Tradition dictates that the chicken be cooked in a halved oil drum over hard wood charcoal but any grill would do as I know no one who grills in a halved oil drum outside of the Caribbean.  However, we simply baked ours off in the oven, since it wasn't grilling weather and I wanted jerk chicken.  450 for 30 minutes will do if you are doing legs and thighs and if you want some of that charred grilled quality to it, toss under the broiler for a few minutes after baking.

Fresh Salad

• 1 fresh tomato
• 1 apple
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• juice of 1/2 lime
• salt & pepper to taste

The salad is everything listed above, just tossed together and served on the side.  It's a light, refreshing accompaniment to the spicy, savory chicken and the starchy, salty plantain chips.


Plantain chips are also easy if you'd like to try those.  Get a hold of a couple of plantains at the market and slice the skins off since they don't peel very easily.  I follow the edges of the peel, they have 3, with the tip of a paring knife and then take off the ends.  After that treatment they peel fairly easily.  Slice them into 2 inch thick rounds and fry them in oil for about 2 minutes.  Remove from the oil and drain them.  Smash the rounds flat using the bottom of a coffee mug or something equally wide and hard.  Fry them again in the oil for another 2 minutes, remove and drain.  Salt liberally and serve.