Fun Playing with Waffles

I've been wanting a good waffle iron for years. It never felt like there was a place to store it, so the dream went unfulfilled. Until my birthday this year. Seven months into not having a stove, it was time for a birthday present. Behold, the Iron Chef of Waffle Irons:

If I had learned nothing else from the cheap waffle iron I bought almost 30 years ago - don't cheap on a waffle iron if you want to make anything other than, well, waffles. This hunk of All Clad is built like a tank. And we've already started to put it through some unconventional paces, with great success. 

Our very first meal with it transversed the ordinary:

Savory Sweet Corn Waffle

We topped our first waffles with a Sausage Gravy made with our first bag of Hot Italian Sausage from our 2014 half Miller Livestock Co., Inc. Berkshire Hog. Served up with Farmers' Market Green Beans, it was a terrific way to inaugurate the new waffle maker.

The leftovers made for a fabulous breakfast topped with Tea Hill Farms poached eggs:

Out next waffle meal featured a regular buttermilk waffle (with a bit less sugar added to the batter), serving as buns for savory burgers. First up, Lamb-Chorizo Burgers served with Mint-Yogurt Raita, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Snap Peas (not pictured). Breychak Farm lamb combined with spicy Saucisson chorizo, Yum.

Bob was a bit overly generous in sizing the patties, and we had some leftovers. 

The next night, we rinsed and repeated, using a mixture of the Saucisson Chorizo and ground beef we received in connection with the Kickstarter campaign of Blue Loon Farm, and a batch of yeast-batter waffles. This time, we made the patties smaller, and so had enough for two meals! Spicy heaven on a waffle!

Meal 2

Next up: BLTs, on yet another batch of Yeasted Waffles! Our last pound of Brechak Farm bacon gave it's all, in an oven-baked weave of deliciousness.

Today's experiment involved potatoes. We'd gotten some beautiful purple spuds at the Geauga Fresh Farmers' Market, and this morning, I shredded, drained and waffled them:

Here, the waffles are topped with poached Blue Eggs from two different farmers, and our first sample of the bacon we got from our Miller Farm hog. The taters were cooked through on the inside and super crispy on the outside, with just a bit of butter brushed on the waffle iron and some salt and pepper added to the shreds before waffling. The beautiful simplicity of waffling speaks for itself. 

Fun playing with waffles - what shall we waffle next? 

Fun Playing With Brunch at Bar Symon

We drove an hour each way to experience our first brunch at Michael Symon's Bar Symon today. Drive two hours just for brunch, you say? I'll admit, I was more partial to a meet-up on the east side when we first started discussing this with some friends, but now, I am very glad they prevailed upon us to go west.

While I was enjoying my freshly squeezed orange juice (which I did not get a good photo of, sorry), a server dropped this plate on our table, courtesy of Chef Matt:

Freshly Fried Donuts Over Honey and Nutella

 

Oh, yes. And that little bit of orange that you see above is orange zest. This isn't on the menu - but it should be!

Eggs Benedict: grilled ham, poached eggs, hollandaise, hash browns

I did not get to taste this, but the diner to my right was very happy with his brunch plate.

Symon Burger: w/fried egg, cheddar, bacon & fries 

I thought it was kind of ironic that Bob ordered the burger, since B Spot is so close to where we live (and both burgers contain the same meat, custom blended and ground by Pat LaFrieda in NY), but I can't complain because I got a bite of it! I also got a bite of the Pork Pastrami Hash that another tablemate ordered - it was tasty. But I have to say, I think my plate was the winner (ah, it feels good to eat on The Pork Side):

Biscuits & Gravy: 2 eggs, bacon, scallion, cheddar biscuits, sausage gravy 

 

The sausage gravy was so tasty that I could have skipped the poached eggs entirely. But I didn't.

The yolks were wonderfully bright and runny. Just the way I like 'em.

The biscuits were studded with bits of chewy bacon, scallion and cheddar. The combination of biscuit and egg yolk was a well made match - but oh my that sausage gravy - fresh, well seasoned sausage meat popping with flavor, nestled in smooth and creamy gravy, with more of that flaky, cheddary, bacony biscuit underneath. This is serious comfort food and highly recommended.

We were so full from our Bar Symon brunch that the chicken and dumplings we'd planned on making for dinner tonight got bumped to tomorrow.  Looking forward to playing with the new Bar Symon dinner menu too!