Wacky Waffle Wednesday

Here comes a shameful confession: My Beloved and I watch Guy Fieri. There, I've said it! 
I know most foodies would turn up their noses, but we get a kick out of his antics, his hairdo, and his "I just love myself" attitude. 

To give you some context, we discovered Guy Fieri years ago at an outdoor arts and crafts fair near Jenner, California, (he's a NOCA native) when we were out exploring one day. We stopped at the fair around lunch time and, seeing the line for hot dogs was a mile long, decided to go for the salmon line, which had far fewer people in it. That planked salmon was from Guy's restaurant, Johnny Garlic's, and it was so delicious that we cornered the chef (not Guy) and demanded his recipe. We couldn't believe anyone (even me!) would prefer tube steaks to this killer salmon. We've been planking ever since.

All that as prelude to our watching an episode of Guy's series, "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" in which he interviewed a guy in Syracuse, New York who makes stuffing waffles. What?? Yes, waffles made with stuffing. I have since learned that stuffing waffles are a great way to use up leftover stuffing at Thanksgiving, but I had never heard of such a thing so I just had to try them.

On that show, they demonstrate in rapid-fire order the ingredients that go into each dish, and the ones for stuffing waffles sounded easy enough, so here we go! Basically, you just assemble what you would normally stuff into your Thanksgiving turkey, let it soak up for a while, then press it into a waffle iron until it's crisp on the outside and the veggies are cooked through. I was initially uncertain about whether the raw onion and celery would get cooked but, magically, they did.

On the show, they also heated turkey slices and added gravy, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, so I just followed suit - what the heck!  Thanksgiving in March - why ever not? 

I got the turkey slices and the mashed spuds from the deli section of my market and briefly heated the former in a small pan and the latter in the microwave. I made a simple gravy with some turkey stock I had in the freezer (butter, flour to make a roux, cook it a little, then add turkey stock a bit at a time, salt and pepper and voilà!) but you could buy that in a bottle if you didn't have stock on hand.

The meal was as much of a kick as that silly show is - the turkey was moist, the spuds loved swimming in gravy, the cranberry sauce was surprised to be called upon mid-year, and those stuffing waffles just made us smile. I mean, really - crisp stuffing?  Who couldn't love that?

The second graders I tutor love a book called "Wacky Wednesday." All kinds of fun and weird things happen in that book; if they had included a meal, I'm sure it would have been stuffing waffles.

Stuffing Waffles, adapted from Funk 'n' Waffles in Syracuse, NY

6 slices ciabatta bread (or other while bread)
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
1 stick celery, chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup or more turkey or chicken stock to moisten
thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper to taste
(next time, I will add sautéed mushrooms)

Mix the egg with the stock to blend. Add the herbs and mix to blend. Add onion, celery, and bread and mix thoroughly. Add more stock if needed - you want the "batter" to be quite moist. Let it stand for about 20-30 minutes to soak the bread thoroughly.

Pile a big spoonful into a heated waffle iron that has been sprayed with cooking spray (I used canola spray). Press down the lid and allow to cook until steaming has stopped and top and bottom are crisp. Serve topped with turkey slices, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce.