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

Sweet and Savory Stuffed Cabbage

I'm not really sure why I wanted to do some stuffed cabbage lately but it's been on my mind.  Makes sense.  It's a completely NorCal summer dish, right?  My heritage has nothing to do with Eastern Europe, where the dish is believed to have originated, and we have no Jewish ancestry, also associated with the origins of this dish.  However, I do recall my mother preparing this a couple of times in my youth, and I remember disliking cabbage in general, so I wanted to give it a go with my big boy taste buds and see what came of it.

I believe it was a success!  It's a bit intense to put it together but well worth it in my opinion.  Clear a couple hours from your afternoon, if you can, and give it the attention it deserves and you shall be rewarded for your efforts.  If you find you want a quick recipe, this is not for you.  If you want comfort food tastiness however, that's another story all together.

To accompany this cooking adventure I had some Stiff Little Fingers on the laptop.  Referred to in their inception as the Irish Clash, they faded from the scene in the early 80's and yet, I still find myself singing little snatches of songs here and there when I'm working.  So it seemed apropos to have some playing while I slaved away in a hot kitchen on a hot summer evening cause if that isn't work, i don't know what is. -justin

Stuffed Cabbage
Time: 2 1/2 hrs
Difficulty: Medium
Serves: 6-8

Wild Rice (for filling)

• 6 cups water
• 2 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 cup wild rice

Bring water and salt to a boil and add the rice.  Return to boil and reduce to simmer until grains are tender, about 45 minutes.  Remove from heat, drain in small mesh colander and set aside to cool.

Sauce

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow or white onion
• 2 28oz cans crushed tomatoes and their juice
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup extra dry vermouth
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Heat olive oil in large saucepan or dutch oven, add onions and sweat over medium low heat till translucent, roughly 8-10 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, vinegar, vermouth, brown sugar, raisins, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer and cook uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Filling

• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup chopped yellow or white onion
• 1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup grated carrot
• 1 1/2 cups cooked wild rice (see previous instructions on prep)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Combine everything in a large bowl.

Cabbage

•  1 head green or Savoy cabbage, cored
• enough water to cover cabbage in a large saucepot or dutch oven

Boil your water and  while you are waiting for that to happen you can core your cabbage (and make sauce and filling if you're awesome at multitasking).  Simply, use a sharp paring knife to cut the stem core out of the bottom of the head of cabbage.  Place the head of cabbage in the water after it boils and simmer for 3 minutes or so, until the outer leaves begin to become pliable.  Remove them with tongs (the water is boiling, remember?) and set aside to cool.  When all useable leaves are removed (the center or heart of the head isn't much good for rolling) cut the rib out of each leaf to make it easy to roll.

Assembly

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Line the bottom of an 11x15, glass baking dish with a couple of ladles of sauce so the rolls don't stick or burn.  Place roughly 1/2 cup of filling, molded into a cylinder, at the top of a cabbage leaf.  Roll the "log" toward the stem part of the leaf, folding in the sides as you go.  Place the rolls in the dish, they can be touching, and cover with the remaining sauce (uncovered cabbage will dry out as it cooks in the oven, not yummy!).  Cook, uncovered for 1 hr.  Let it rest for 5-7 minutes before serving with a healthy ladle of sauce.  One or two of these are very filling!