Waffling: A Tribute to Irma S. Rombauer

My kids are like wolves: If they sense the slightest hesitation or weakness, they will hone in for the kill. The four year old will issue deeply wounded, plaintive cries beginning with phrases like, "You NEVER let..." And the six-year-old will badger me into submission with her impeccable memory: "Remember, LAST WEEK, you said..."

So that's how I ended up making waffles for Sunday breakfast, even though I didn't really feel like it at first. I was planning on making pancakes, which I'd already promised the day before, and knew I couldn't get out of, even though I was tired. You see, I'd stayed up into the wee hours watching a particularly bad John Travolta movie on TV, all by myself because my husband was away at a conference. I don't know why I did it; but I did, and now it was 7:30 am, and they wanted waffles. "Well," I said, "I don't know... they take more time... I have to get out the waffle iron..."

You know that feeling of inertia which is so great it makes even the simplest of tasks seem like an unscalable mountain? That's how digging out the waffle iron felt to me. The kids sensed my indecision, my incoherence, my waffling, if you will, and unzipped their sheep costumes. The wolves came out and went for the jugular. I had no choice but to get down on my knees and root around in the back of a very full cabinet for the waffle iron.

Despite my grumbling, it wasn't so bad. It only took a couple of minutes to extricate it from the tangle of cords and jumble of seldom used pans. I plunked the waffle iron on the counter with a self-satisfied feeling of achievement. There! It felt good. I felt the boulder of my inertia slowly starting to roll downhill. I thought, why not try a different waffle recipe? Why not seize the day, accomplish something in life? I had already gotten the waffle iron out. What could be harder than that?

So I turned to my favorite mother-daughter team, the Rombauer ladies, to see what they had to say about waffles. It turns out quite a bit. You don't write a book containing more than 4,300 recipes by being taciturn. (I'm talking about my 1964 edition of The Joy of Cooking.) In addition to several creative serving suggestions, including illustrated instructions for cooking strips of bacon directly into your waffle, I learned that the more fat you add to your waffle batter, the crispier your waffles will be. I never knew that! Then, I hit this: "We also suggest beating egg whites separately for a superbly light waffle."

Internal groan. Oh crap, do I have to? I already got out the waffle iron. Isn't that enough? Can't I just mix the eggs in whole?

Then I thought about Ms. Rombauer, and how her husband committed suicide by shooting himself through the mouth with a shotgun, and needing a source of income, she, a complete amateur, decided to write what turned out to be one of the most ubiquitous, and used, cookbooks in America. (She self-published the first edition. I like to think of her as a proto-blogger.)

No. You are going to separate those eggs, if it's the Last. Thing. You. Do.  So I did it. I let the mucousy whites slip through my fingers into a bowl, and I deposited the velvety yolks into another bowl. I beat those egg whites until my arm hurt, and then beat them some more until my arm was numb. Then I gently folded the white foam into the batter, just like Ms. Rombauer told me to.

And? She was right. My waffles turned out superbly light. In fact, they turned out so superbly light that I'm going to have to make my waffles like that every time from now on. There's no going back, sore arm be damned.

(A little tip: Put your leftover waffles in the fridge or freezer, and then warm them up in the toaster when you are ready to eat them. Just like store bought! But way tastier, as long as you don't burn them.)

Superbly Light Waffles
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking (1964 edition)
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3 egg yolks
3 tablespoons canola oil
1½ cups milk
3 egg whites

Start heating your waffle iron. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar to a large mixing bowl and mix well. Separate three eggs, then beat the yolks. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and add the yolks, oil, and milk. Stir until just combined and moistened. Do not over-mix. Using a wire whisk, beat the egg whites until they are all foamy. Fold the egg whites very gently into the batter. Scoop ladlefuls of batter onto your waffle iron and make the waffles according to your waffle iron's instructions. (On mine, the little green light which signals the waffle is done is broken. I can tell the waffle is done when no more steam is coming out.) Serve with butter and maple syrup or honey. And a badly needed cup of coffee.

Make Yourself Some Dang Spicy Pickles

What is there to eat? Sometimes, you've got to listen to Napoleon Dynamite's grandma, and make yourself a dang quesadilla. And then say, "Fine!" huffily, just for fun. But there's no need to be huffy. Why should anyone get huffy about melted cheese between two tortillas?

Especially if you jazz it up a little bit. First, I recommend using asadero cheese, which is sometimes called, fittingly enough, queso quesadilla. It's a white cheese, similar to mozzarella, which melts nice and velvety smooth. If you can't find asadero, Monterey Jack is a decent substitute. Just arrange your sliced cheese on top of a flour tortilla, place another tortilla on top, and place the whole thing in a dry skillet on medium heat. Heat both sides until brown spots appear and the cheese is melted. You can add other vegetables to the cheese before you cook. Mushrooms, onions, cilantro, whatever strikes your fancy. But might I suggest pineapple? People add it to pizza, so I figure it's not totally crazy. My husband and I like it a lot.

OK. So you've got your quesadilla. Salsa, sour cream, guacamole, etc. are all good accompaniments. But what I'm really here to sell to you today are carrot-jalapeño pickles. I've found them in countless taquerias, and enjoyed them with many a taco. So when I found myself with a surfeit of jalapeños from my freakishly bountiful plant (still going strong), I decided to give them a go. They were super easy, I used up 13 jalapeños, and they are awesome with quesadillas, especially ones with pineapple in them. The sweetness of the pineapple just works really well as a counterbalance to the spicy acidity of the pickles.

I found these pretty "rainbow carrots" at my market, but regular old orange carrots will work just fine. I do like working with the pretty carrots, though. (Did you know that carrots originated in Afghanistan, and that orange carrots did not exist until the 16th century? Well, now you do.)

Carrot-Jalapeño Pickles
2 cups apple cider vinegar
about 1/2 tablespoon sugar
9 small carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds
13 jalapeño peppers, sliced into rounds
1/2 a medium-sized onion, sliced

Add the vinegar and the sugar to a medium-sized non-reactive saucepan, and heat until the liquid is hot but not boiling. A few tiny bubbles should be starting to form. Remove pan from heat and add the carrots, jalapeños, and onions. Steep for one hour. Add the pickles to clean jars and keep refrigerated. The pickles should last for a few weeks. Feel free to halve the recipe if you don't think you'll be eating that many quesadillas (or tacos, burritos, etc.). We eat a lot of Mexican food around here. Beans and rice, beans and rice, it's nice. But it's also nice to have lots of spicy pickles to make things interesting.

(This post has been entered in this month's Grow Your Own round-up, hosted by MomGateway.)

Pretty Pita Pizzas

The request: Pizza. The problem: No mozzarella cheese in the fridge, and no desire to drag tired, hungry kids or my tired, hungry self to the store. The other problem: Not enough time to make dough.

The solution: Pizzas on pita bread. For the kids I used an olive oil base topped with garlic, sliced tomato, and zucchini, with a little Parmesan cheese. The adults got a rosemary-caramelized onion base, topped with thinly sliced zucchini, capers, and an egg, also with a bit of Parmesan.

The result: Momentary happiness, full bellies, and the feeling of satisfaction that comes from making a pizza that looks like a flower.

These pizzas are very easy, and open to individual interpretation. This was my general method: For the kids' version just place a piece of pita bread on a sheet pan, then spread some olive oil on the bread, sprinkle with salt, then top with minced garlic, tomato slices, zucchini, and a little more salt. Bake in a 450° oven for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan after you remove the pizza from the oven.

For the adult version, you follow the exact same principle: Put your pita bread on a sheet pan, spread the caramelized onion sauce (recipe follows) on the bread, then arrange very thinly sliced zucchini in a circle around the edge. Crack an egg into the middle, and sprinkle capers and a little salt on top of everything. Bake for about 10 minutes in a 450° oven, or until egg is set. Remove the pizza from the oven and sprinkle grated Parmesan and black pepper on top.

Rosemary Caramelized Onion Sauce
The only thing that takes any time worth mentioning in this whole process is the caramelized onion sauce, which needs to cook for about 35 minutes. You could always make this ahead of time if you manage to plan ahead. Or you can just let it cook while you prepare your other pizza ingredients. The sauce tastes even better the next day, and would be great on a piece of crusty bread or crackers.

6 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium-sized yellow onions, peeled and sliced
Salt
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
Dash of sherry vinegar

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the onions and a little salt and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for a long time, until the onions turn a nice golden brown. (Be careful not to scorch the onions. If they start cooking too fast, turn down the heat. Slow and steady is the idea. It took about 35 minutes for my onions to be done.) During the last few minutes of cooking, crush the rosemary in your palm and add it to the pan. Stir to combine and cook for a few minutes until the onions are done. You will then need to puree the onions in a blender or food processor, adding perhaps a bit more olive oil to get a thick, fairly smooth sauce with some lumps in it. Pour the onions into a bowl, and add a dash of sherry vinegar and more salt to taste, if needed.

Incidentally, this sauce makes a really nice salad dressing if you add a dollop to some balsamic vinegar. Make a salad of toasted pumpkin seeds, chopped apples, and very fresh lettuce, then toss with this dressing. I did this with some of my leftover sauce, and it was quite lovely.

Just Good Dal

Sometimes there's a story behind a dish. You know, like, "I'll always remember when I first ate _______. It was springtime in Paris and I was a young lass fresh out of boarding school, making my way in the world for the first time. It changed my life, for that's when I first met...." etc. This is not one of those dishes. I have no epic story for dal – I just make it about once a week, it's a quick, easy, cheap source of protein, and it tastes really good. Perhaps there is an epic tale to be found in potato curry or yogurt rice, but those are stories for another day.

This is a South Indian style of dal (lentil stew). One of the South Indian elements of this dish is the use of mustard seeds, which are tempered in oil at the start of the cooking process. (Some folks do the tempering at the end and add the mustard seeds to the finished dish, but that's not the way I roll.) The mustard seeds add a pleasant nuttiness, but the trick is to fry them until they turn gray and start popping all over the place. If you don't do that, your mustard seeds will be bitter, and you will miss out on the pleasant nuttiness, which would be sad. I usually use a sliced yellow onion when I make this dal, but this time switched things up by using scallions instead. Either works just fine, but the scallions nicely accent the ginger, and make the dish sing just a little bit more.

One other note: I use mung dal when I make this. You could try other lentils, and I'm sure the result would be tasty, if unorthodox.

Oh, and one more thing: If you are unfamiliar with cooking Indian food this may seem a little complicated, but it really is easy enough for me to whip this up any time during the week. Just go to your local Indian grocery and stock up on the lentils and spices, and you'll be fine. Added bonus: Everything is much less expensive there.

Ginger Scallion Dal
To cook the dal:
1 cup mung dal, picked over and rinsed three times
About 3½ cups of water (you can always add more if things start to dry out)

In a medium-sized pot, bring the dal and water to a boil, skimming off any foam that appears. Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until dal is soft and starting to become mushy. Add more water if the dal starts to dry out.

While the dal is simmering, you will need to cook the seasoning:
2 tablespoons canola or peanut oil
1½ teaspoons black mustard seeds
1 jalapeno pepper, sliced in half lengthwise
⅛ teaspoon asafoetida
1 tablespoon cumin powder
2 bunches scallions, chopped in 2-inch pieces
1-inch length of ginger root, peeled and minced
Water
Salt
¼ teaspoon turmeric
Juice of 1 lemon
Handful of cilantro, chopped

In a large pot or very large saute skillet, pour the oil and begin to heat it on high. Add the jalapeno and mustard seeds, and wait for the seeds to turn gray and pop. Some will fly out of the pot, and that's OK. Immediately reduce heat and add asafoetida and cumin. Stir for a few seconds and take care to keep the spices from scorching. Add the scallions and ginger, and saute for a few minutes, until the scallions have started to soften. Add water to cover the scallions, salt, and turmeric. Simmer until the scallions are quite soft. Once the scallions are soft, add about 2½ cups of the cooked dal to the pot (or add all of the dal, if you are not reserving the bland stuff for children). Add more water if necessary, to reach the desired consistency. Add salt to taste. You will need a lot, as the dal you have added has no salt in it. Don't be afraid. Turn off the heat, then add the lemon juice and cilantro, and stir to combine. Serve with rice.