The perfect orange food
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- October
- 21
I love this time of year. The air gets a little cooler, perfect for a sweater and an extra blanket on the bed at night. The leaves turn brilliant shades of red, gold, and orange. And pumpkins take center stage as decoration and as food.
I came across a recipe for pumpkin waffles that I’ve been making in big batches and freezing for convenient weekend meals. JD loves the waffles and will pack away almost a whole Belgian-sized one—no syrup necessary. I’m guessing he’s going to like his first taste of pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. And if I can muster up the energy & carve out some free time this weekend, I may get a little sugar pumpkin & butternut squash and roast them sprinkled with brown sugar as a break from JD’s beloved sweet potatoes.
Pumpkins also take a staring role at Historic Hudson Valley’s great jack o’lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson. For years, we’d been talking about going but never got motivated in time to get tickets, which go fast. This year we procrastinated too long again and missed out on the early weekend times. But we were able to get tickets for Columbus Day. It was definitely worth it. JD loved all the lit-up pumpkins. The displays were very impressive—everything from a scene from Michael Jackson’s Thriller to decorative carvings to a giant spider web surrounded by a field full of arachnids to the massive dinosaurs. There was even an underwater scene with all kinds of fish and coral and sea life, as well as a few pirates for good measure!
Here’s the waffle recipe from the Epicurious Web site:
Pumpkin Waffles
Gourmet magazine, November 2000
From Cafe 222, San Diego, CA
Makes 12 (4-inch) waffles
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil for brushing waffle iron
Special equipment: a waffle iron (preferably nonstick)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 250°F and preheat waffle iron.
Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices.
Whisk eggs in a large bowl until blended, then whisk in milk, buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients just until smooth.
Brush waffle iron lightly with oil and spoon batter (about 2 cups for four 4-inch Belgian waffles) into waffle iron, spreading quickly. Cook according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Transfer waffles to rack in oven to keep warm and crisp. Make more waffles in same manner.
(Check out the reviews on the Web site for some reader suggestions to change the recipe to make it more pumpkin-y or to use whole grains.)
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 11:48 am by Tracey Princiotta.
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Commenting usually isnt my thing, but ive spent an hour on the site, so thanks for the info