Martha Stewart's Buttermilk Waffles

This Christmas, the inlaws were kind enough to buy each of the kids kitchen gadgets, and while the rest of the siblings got sandwich presses, we got a waffle iron... Honestly, I think they grabbed the wrong box by accident - but what a great mistake!!!

So yesterday for breakfast, I finally got around to making my first batch! It was the hubby's last day off before going back to work, so he needed a treat, and boy, were they worth the effort!

I went straight to Martha for this recipe, I figured if someone knew how to bump up a plain waffle recipe just a tad, it would be her. Heads up: LOTS of butter here. Eat slowly, stop when you're full. Remember the rules. Now grab your favourite mug of coffee, and get cooking!

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (8 Tbsp) melted unsalted butter
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, separated, room temperature
• 2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 
  

veg oil to oil the iron

Directions:

Plug in your waffle iron. If it's new, they say to wipe it down with a damp cloth and dry it off. Mix together your dry ingredients. Martha says sift, but I never do that. I heard on a show a while back that if you just whisk things together, it will more or less have the same effect, so that's what I do.

For the buttermilk: Does anyone actually buy this stuff for recipes??? I mean, I can understand for a drink or something, but otherwise I just use that standard old trick of 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice and add milk to make 1 cup - in this case doubled. It might not be exactly the same, but I'm just not willing to spend the money on extra ingredients.

Melt the butter. Mix with buttermilk. Separate eggs, and add yolks to the wet mixture, along with the vanilla. Whip the egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, then fold the egg whites in. 

I use a ceramic pastry brush to slather a little oil on the grill. Fill each waffle mold - in my case two - with about 1/3 cup of batter, and spread it out sort of quickly so that it covers the entire area. I noticed that you really need to make sure you fill the iron all the way to the top for the right mold to come out, but at the same time they also say to not overfill it. 

Cooking time is about 3-5 minutes per batch, but I found the better measure to be when there's no steam coming out anymore. Store them in a 200 degree oven on a cookie sheet until they are all done. 

Review: These waffles came out tasting even better than I imagined. The cinnamon was the perfect added touch. I would not change a thing about the recipe. The one thing that I didn't love had nothing to do with the recipe, I think. These waffles were not crispy at all. From what I read on the internet, there are two important elements in crispy waffles: butter and heat. Well... there was no shortage of butter. Sadly, my waffle iron is probably a lower end model. There is no heat control whatsoever, it just plugs in. I froze the leftovers and this morning my my hubby toasted one up in the toaster oven. It's much crispier!

Enjoy your breakfast, and have a great day!

Tuscan Marinated Chicken

So a few days ago, I was listening to my trusty Sirius Radio. More specifically, I was listening to Sandy Gluck on the Martha Stewart Channel. That day, the guest was Clodagh McKenna, author of Homemade: Irresistible Homemade Recipes for Every Occasion, which shows how simple recipes really can be. I checked her out on her website, http://www.clodaghmckenna.com/and decided to use the basic idea that she mentioned on Sirius that morning, for Tuscan Marinated Chicken. My amounts are different than hers though... She used 2 whole cups of olive oil for her marinade, and I just couldn't bring myself to use that much...

I thought that this was a super simple recipe, but with a combination that I maybe wouldn't have thought to use together. But now it's in my head, and I hope you take the idea along with you too. So here's my adapted version.

You'll need:

1 Ziploc Freezer Bag, for marinating
2-3 lbs of cut up chicken pieces, preferably bone-in and skin-on
1/2 cup or so of olive oil
1/4-1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 finely chopped fresh red chili, or 1/2 to 1 tsp crushed chili flakes, however much you like
4-5 cloves of garlic (yep!)
2 tbsp fresh, chopped rosemary, or 1-2 tsp dried
S & P to taste

So first of all, I chopped up all that wonderful garlic

Then I decided to be super organized and put everything into little bowls so I could just dump it all in!

I happened to use chicken legs this time 'round. Rinse the pieces off, and put them into the bag, along with all of your spices.

Then add in the oil and vinegar, and slosh it around until it looks mixed enough. Let it sit for a few hours or overnight.

I am a fan of the Charcoal BBQ... There's not much like it. A word on bbq chicken legs. They are smokin' so make sure you put them on the cooler part of the grill, and if using charcoal, close up the vents and the lid. So heat it up, or use a gas grill, or you could even preheat the oven to about 375 ° F or so...

Usually our BBQ takes about 20 minutes to cook chicken legs. I'd double that time for the oven, but if your unsure, always stick a knife into the center, and push gently to see the juices run. If there's no red or pink, you should be good to go. Just keep in mind that the skin does get quite dark in this case from the balsamic vinegar.

Serve, and enjoy!!! I know I did!

Happy Barbequing!