Pretty in pink (or orange)

Ha! Reading over this entry just before I post it, I think two things:

A. Another waffle recipe!?!

B. This is all to say I friggin' love that juicer.

Let's start at the beginning:

I made an awesome milkshake the other day. It had plump strawberries, still in a July state-of-mind, lemon sherbet, fossilized from August, a splash of milk that claimed to have expired and, for some real mouth feel, half a banana. I ate the other half smeared with peanut butter in between spoonfuls of that frothy pink milkshake. It was viciously cold - like when you're biking down a hill in the rain, or what you thought was rain, when suddenly these solid, sharp objects start scraping your face and you realize it's not raining anymore, it's snowing or hailing or something, and chunks of freezing water are hitting you harder and faster, and there's nothing you can do about it but grit your teeth and slide the slants of your eyes shut and hurtle down the hill. Yeah, it was like that. I got an awful brain freeze but the thing was, this milkshake was so delicious, I didn't want to stop eating it. That's why I alternated it with bites of peanut-buttered banana. That worked alright until I finished, at which point my internal organs began to seize. I violently shivered at each traffic light on the way to work. Amazingly enough, it was warm there that day - I barely needed my long johns and toque! Speaking of long johns, I was wearing mine when I drank that milkshake and I couldn't help but notice how their purple bled into my pink sweater which perfectly matched the pale blush of it. See:

Then I realized I've been making a lot of pink things. Like beet and quinoa pancakes. The recipe (which came from a new cookbook that has been exciting me and simultaneously not meeting my expectations) said to roast some beets then puree them but since I have a juicer (la de da) I thought I'll juice 'em all! Good call. It saved me a whack of work. The batter was a lovely colour and the pancakes turned out fluffy and slightly sweet. I ate them with smoked herring, goat's milk yogurt and a kohlrabi/apple slaw. Sour cream probably would have been better. As well as time to actually enjoy my eats. I seem to have a problem getting to work on time. Still, they were tasty buggers and, as I frantically pedaled to work, I was hit with this overwhelming sensation of, well, it's hard to describe. I simply felt great. Not just great, amazing! Wonderful!!!

The next morning I used the rest of the batter but the pancakes didn't rise as much. I ate them with toasted walnuts, maple syrup and blue cheese that I had mashed with a bit of milk and yogurt. Nigel Slater would probably call these a "lurid" pink but I don't care. I love beets, I love pancakes and I LOVE pink!

I was all set to give you the recipe for those puppies when Monday, oh Monday, rolled around. (And look now, it's already Saturday!) I made carrot and corn flour waffles. See, these waffles actually precipitated the advent of the juicer in our lives. I wanted to make them but didn't want to buy carrot juice because it's full of preservatives and it's expensive. I hounded David to ask his friend Jacob if we could borrow his juicer indefinitely and Jacob, very sensible that we were trying to hijack his juicer for all time, said no. Shortly thereafter, David found a juicer at Value Village and scooped that baby up! With carrot juice at my disposal, a heaping bag of corn flour in our burly, black storage bin and a morning together, these waffles were happening whether they liked it or not. I think they liked it.

We liked them. They were marvelous. Golden and bright, sun and citrus. A match to our morning with signs of spring bursting out left and right, birds going ape-shit with their twerping and heat, such heat! After eating ours with thick coconut cream, goat's milk yogurt, orange syrup, orange slices, banana chunks, kiwi-tart tamarillo, oh and maple syrup too, it was unanimous: These are the best thing I've made yet from this new cookbook! 

Carrot and Corn-Flour Waffles

Adapted from Good to the Grain

1 1/2 cups corn flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 /4 cup plus 2 tbsp wheat germ

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 cup plus 2 tbsp carrot juice  

3/4 cup coconut milk, well stirred before measuring

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

zest and juice of 1 orange

2 eggs

Dig out your waffle maker, plug it in and start pre-heating. 

Sift all the dry ingredients into a large bowl, pouring back any bits of grain or other ingredients that may stubbornly stay put.

Whisk all the wet ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined to a creamy orange colour. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and use a spatula to gently fold the two mixtures together. The batter should be thick and pillow-like, with large pockets of deflated bubbles on the surface (or so says Boyce). 

Scoop about 1/2 cup batter onto the middle of your waffle iron, clamp down the lid and cook until your light goes green, or however your waffle maker tells you it's done, about 4-6 minutes.

Eat hot, hot, hot as "the buttery flavour and beautiful crunch tend to deteriorate quickly when the waffles cool". Boyce suggests unsalted butter with maple syrup or a citrusy marmalade. Do as you will.

I would say this makes enough for 4 hearty breakfasters. Rar!