Soft Waffles with Raspberry Sauce

A few weeks ago I finally bought something I'd been wishing for for years: a waffle-maker. I don't know why it took me so long. It only cost $25 which we spend on pizza more often than is healthy for us. Not that I'm going to argue that waffles are healthy, mind you... just yummy.

The thing is, most recipes you find for waffles tend to make them crisp, at least on the outside. This is especially true if you use self-rising flour or a pancake mix. I have nothing against using self-rising flour in recipes--actually, I'm a fan. But when I was a teenager in France we used to make waffles for dinner sometimes (what Americans associate with breakfast and brunch is generally considered dinner food in France), and they were soft. So I developed this recipe through trial and error to try to recreate the waffles of my youth.

You will need:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup light Karo syrup
1 cup whole plain yoghurt
1/2 cup of half and half
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

For the raspberry sauce:
2 cups of frozen raspberries
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tbsp butter

Can of whipped cream (I'll post a recipe for homemade Chantilly another day)

measuring cups
measuring spoons
waffle maker
whisk
mixing bowl
nonstick cooking spray
2 quart saucepan
wooden spoon

For the waffles:
Spray the waffle-maker with nonstick cooking spray and preheat.
Whisk together the dry ingredients. Whisking works as well as sifting in my kitchen.
Add the rest of the ingredients all at once. Whisk until smooth.

Pour directly from the bowl into the waffle-maker. When in doubt, use less batter--you don't want it to overflow, that makes a mess that's no fun to clean. Check after 5 minutes, although the waffle-maker I got lets you know its done when the light goes out again.

For the sauce:
Place all ingredients in the sauce pot and heat on medium high until it bubbles, then lower to low heat. Cook for at least ten minutes.

If you're concerned it's starting to stick to the pot or it's caramelizing, add a little water.

If you want to avoid getting seeds in your teeth you can use a strainer, but I don't do this as you lose a fair amount of the gooey heaven of the sauce that way.

Pour the raspberry sauce on the waffles and top with whipped cream. Makes three waffles. Enjoy!

Baked Dover Sole in White Sauce with Spinach and Rice

My husband and I like fish, and Dover sole has the advantage of having low mercury levels. It's often inexpensive, too. This dish calls for a white sauce similar to the cream sauce I make with the chicken penne recipe I posted a while back. I like to make spinach and white rice with it and pour the sauce over both.

You will need:

1 lb Dover sole fillets
salt
1 quarter of a lemon
1 cup whole plain yoghurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I like the kind made with olive oil--less fat)
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 1/2 cups of white jasmine rice
1 box (10oz) of frozen, chopped spinach

rice cooker
nonstick cooking spray
baking dish
small bowl
whisk
silicone spatula
2 to 4 quart pot with lid
strainer

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Start the rice in the rice cooker. I put in a ratio of about 1:1.25 rice to water, so in this case, 1 1/2 cups of rice and just under two cups of water. If you do not have a rice cooker, follow the directions on the rice package.

Spray the baking dish with the nonstick cooking spray. Lay the filets in the dish as evenly as possible. Try to avoid making any part thicker than the rest, so that it will bake evenly. Squirt lemon juice from the lemon quarter over the fish. Sprinkle salt over it.

In the small bowl, mix the plain yoghurt and mayonnaise with the whisk until fully blended. With the spatula, scrape the sauce over the fish, and spread it so that it covers all of the fish. Run your fingers down the sprigs of thyme (against the angle of the leaves) to pull the leaves off, and sprinkle over the white sauce. Put it in the oven, and set a timer for 14 minutes.

Put the frozen chopped spinach in the pot, placing the lid on top, and heat on medium to medium high, flipping the block of spinach every so often until it comes apart. After that, stir it every couple of minutes. If it starts to stick to the bottom of the pot, lower the heat.

The rice should be done about at the same time as the fish and spinach. Start by pouring off the water that will have melted in the spinach, using the strainer. Then remove the fish from the oven. You can test it to make sure it's done by inserting a fork. If it's done the flesh of the fish will come apart easily--underdone fish will resist.

Plate the rice and spinach, then the fish, so you can scoop up white sauce from the fish and pour it on top of the rice and spinach. Serves 2-3 people. Enjoy!
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If you try one of my recipes, please leave a comment and tell me how it turned out!