fftf: hot tip friday #20, breakfast rut 🧇

two ways get out of it (waffles & cauliflower), plus tasty braised fennel

Hello and happy Friday,

We made it through another week... at least that’s how I’m feeling this week 🙃. It’s been a weird spring here in Pittsburgh: warm, then cold, then sunny, then rainy/gloomy weather, but this week it feels like we are finally moving into summer.

I am desperately waiting for the summer produce to really get going. My farmers market opened two weeks ago (yay!); so far there’s just a little bit of produce, but already I am blown away by how flavorful it is compared to grocery store veg. I made a simple sauce of (farmers market) scallions and “garlic scallions” blended with yogurt in the Cuisinart and it was AMAZING. I also made super simple sauté/steamed spinach with butter and garlic and it was out of this world because the local spinach is SO delicious. (Thank you Who Cooks for You Farm for the best local veggies!)

Anyways, here are a few hot food tips for your week!

#1 - splurgy but amazing waffle maker

I’m in a MAJOR breakfast rut right now… just incredibly bored of all my usual breakfasts. So I decided that it might be fun to get some waffles into our lives. I am always trying to buy things that will last a long time, so I decided to look for a cast iron waffle maker. First I tried (bought) this cheap version on Amazon, but one look at it in person and I could tell it would be way more hassle than its worth, so I promptly returned it. Then, justified as an early birthday gift to myself + heirloom item I could pass down to my children, I decided to splurge on this cast-iron waffle maker.

I have now made waffles with it twice and WOW, just WOW! They are PERFECT and SO amazingly CRISPY! As it is cast iron, using it takes some getting used to (my first two waffles were a total fail and stuck to the iron), but once you do - the waffles cook up in 2-3 mins each and they are truly something special. They also freeze SO well! I have only tried a classic waffle recipe so far (Alison Roman’s in Sweet Enough is what I used and is very delicious), but I’m really excited to experiment with more and healthier waffles! I think this waffle iron would make a really good (father’s day?) gift, if your receiver is into cast-iron!

Recommendation caveat: if you DON’T already cook with cast iron, I would not recommend this waffle iron. Cooking with cast iron in general requires finesse/practice, even more so with the waffles. So if you’re a newbie, I’d start with a regular cast iron pan… then build up to the waffle maker later.

This company makes a “Belgian” and “American” waffle maker. I picked the Belgian for those nice, deep squares.

#2 - my most creative recipe ever & great for breakfast

As another solution to my breakfast rut, I would like to plug an old recipe of mine, possibly the recipe I am most proud of, because it’s the most original thing I’ve ever invented: Cauli-faux-caccia; ie, “focaccia” that is gluten free and has cauliflower in it! If that sounds super weird, think about carrot cake or zucchini bread, and the way the veggies actually make these quick breads tender and moist. Cauliflower can do the same thing!

I must confess that I have now purchased cauliflower TWICE in the past month with the intention of making this, but both times I decided to cook the cauliflower for dinner instead. Third times a charm, I hope! Aiming to make it again this weekend.

Here’s the recipe - now posted on my blog! ie, searchable! - if you haven’t tried it yet!

#3 - easy braised fennel and carrots with coconut milk

My new thing is making one simple veggie for dinner every night. I always want to make a veggie AND a salad, but that is usually not in the cards with the two crying babies in the background, so lately I have to settle for one.

I often dream about my wedding dinner, which was a family style meal served by the Pacific Ocean, cooked by a fabulous chef, Katie Powers, who I worked for once and who sources the most fantastic produce/ingredients and makes incredible California-style food. At my wedding, one of the veggies she made was braised endive. Not something I had heard of before but OMGGGGG, it was unbelievably, mind-blowingly delicious. I still think about it all the time.

my wedding dinner, a meal I still dream about. Sadly I cannot find a photo of the actual food :(

here was my wedding dinner menu. I DIYed these signs 100% by myself, including design, printing & gluing … do not recommend, lol

On Wednesday night, needing to use up two fennel bulbs and some red carrots and seeing some coconut milk in the fridge, I decided to try “braising” them. I melted some butter, threw in the chopped fennel and carrots. Sprinkled some salt and garlic powder. Meant to let it brown, but I filled up the pan too much and so it didn’t really brown, oh well. Added enough coconut milk so there was about 3/4 inch of liquid in the pan, and the veggies were still popping out of the top. Simmered it until the fennel/carrots were soft enough for my almost-1-year-old(!) baby to eat. She gobbled them up and my husband said they were the best thing I’ve made in a while!

That’s all for now. Happy weekend, y’all.

love,
Jess

PS. In a fun internet-to-real-life-moment, I recently met up IRL with a fellow writer on Substack whose newsletter I enjoy. She asked me to contribute this week! Check it out for a quick rec and my fermenting plans for the summer!