Breakfast!

Today is a lucky day. I am about to share my favorite breakfast of all time...a dish so wonderful that I almost dropped everything and started a restaurant around its shear deliciousness and satisfying character: the egg veggie waffle. Ok, I admit the name is less than elegant and needs some work, but bear with me and you will find a new breakfast of champions.
It all starts with the waffle. This morning's creation was particularly special in that it was mostly pureed sprouted buckwheat grouts (which takes some forethought) mixed with some rolled oats and sourdough starter, and left overnight to bubble away. Waffles are an excellent and delicious way to use your sourdough regularly. Normally, I just use a glob of starter mixed with enough water or milk to create a batter, and since I am always adding different types of flour to replenish the starter (rye, buckwheat, quinoa, etc...), every batch of waffles is a totally unique experience! Contrary to popular belief you do not need any more than the flour, water and starter in the batter (ok, maybe a tad of salt). If you really want, you can add an egg, but since I am making waffles for myself a lot of the time, one egg is too much liquid and protein binding power and the waffles turn out weird. Occasionally for the savory dish (ie. the legendary waffle burger) I toss in some dried herbs like basil and rosemary for a unique touch.

Anyway, once you have the batter set, preheat your waffle iron (preferably belgian style), butter it up even if it's non-stick by rubbing a chunk of cold butter all over the waffle nubbins, stir a pinch of baking soda (not powder) into the batter and pour 'er in. The use of baking soda at the last minute is key here because it reacts with the acidity of the fermented batter and in the heat of the iron creates a tender fluffy waffle with a nicely browned crispy exterior. Yum.

The topping involves whatever cooking greens you have around (this morning was kale and rainbow chard) cut to a rough chiffonade (thinly sliced into ribbons) with a poached egg on top. Luckily, the beauty of this dish is that the cooking of the greens and the poaching of the egg and be done easily at the same time in the same pan! Just create a little nest for the egg out of the greens, crack the egg into the nest, add a splash of water, cover tightly and cook over medium heat until the egg is to your liking (I like a nice runny yolk that soaks into the waffle). If you do this a couple times you can time it perfectly so that the waffle and the egg are done at the exact same time.

The rest is quite self explanatory. The nested egg goes onto the waffle, garnishes added (avocado, homemade cream cheese and chopped pistachios) and enjoy! You can trust me in saying that this will not be the last waffle post you will see. If you are looking for an iron (mine is one of two appliances I actually use), check any tag sale this spring - they always seem to be there, or for a non-electric option this was one of the best investments I have ever made. Apparently Howard Dean once said "I've waffled before. I'll waffle again." I agree.

Easy Cheesy Pizza

I apologise for the cheesy (there I go again) alliteration, but it's too true: pizza is one of the easiest (not to mention most delicious) things that you can throw together on a whim. This may sound contradictory given what deters most people from homemade pizza: the dough, which, in order to achieve that fluffy, crispy, full-o-flavor crust, needs a lot of time to rise and rest. Luckily, it's just this time that gives you complete and total flexibility to make pizza on the fly.

My pizza dough consists of a dollop of sourdough starter, some water and enough fresh whole grain flour stirred in to create a pasty dough consistency (when the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl)...no kneading necessary! I just put this mixture in a corner to rise for the day (or overnight) then knead in some salt (an easy salt ratio is 1 tsp per cup of water used), and throw it in the fridge until I have that pizza urge. Any leftover can be added to next week's batch for additional flavor. If you don't have sourdough starter laying around, you should make some.

my sourdough bubbling away

The easiest way I have found to do this was to go buy some organic raisins (non-organic have pesticides that will inhibit yeast growth) and fill a jar a quarter way up with them. Fill the jar with water, cover with plastic wrap (so you don't completely seal the gasses in) and let it sit for a few days to a couple weeks (depending on temperature) until it starts bubbling. At this point pour off the water into a bowl and add enough whole grain flour to make it a stirable paste. The paste should bubble and rise over a day or so. Now you just have to feed your starter by taking out a bit and adding a bit more water and flour each day (easy if you use it often), or you can throw it in the fridge and only remove/feed once a week.

Ok, back to the pizza. Tonight's toppings included:
-Roasted garlic tomato sauce (laying around in the fridge)
-Broccoli (torn up into tiny pieces)
-Vermont Cure sweet Italian sausage (cooked, split, seared and chopped)
-Caramelized onions
-Sweet potato (itty bitty little cubes)
-And of course, cheese (sharp cheddar and mozzarella 50/50...my favorite combination)

Cooking is much less about quantities and much more about ingredients and technique...exactly why so many chefs have a living today. Everyone has their own opinion on what style of pizza rules the lot, but for me it involves an über thin crispy crust topped with lots of delicious stuff. To help achieve this flatbread-style pie, you want the oven hot (400 to 500 degrees)...or go build yourself a nice brick or earthen oven in your backyard. To get that base nice and brown before the juices trickle down and make it soggy, put the pizza pan right on the bottom of your oven, if you can, or as low down as possible to get that direct bottom heat that helps simulate the environment of a brick oven that conducts tremendous amounts of heat directly into the crust. Bam! In any case, keep cooking until you lift up the edge (very carefully) and can see significant golden browning on the bottom of the whole pie. Take out, let rest (at least until the cheese stops sizzling) and enjoy!...yum.

Anyway, that's all for this first night of freestyle cooking. Send in your comments and suggestions for future posts or other dishes you'd like to see made without a recipe (disasters are good fun to watch). I'm always up for a challenge. Until then...