Happy New Year's day!… Waffles anyone?

I have finally got an old fashion waffle pan that I have been searching for quite a while now! Luckily my grandma had it in her attic, perfect for my new “culinary” experiments…. So since I came back to London I have been making waffles like mad: starting from basics until I got carried away with the most random ingredients (good combinations however!). The beginning have been quite challenging of course as you would expect. In fact we have a saying in Lithuanian that sounds something like this “first pancake never comes out right”, which describes my trial very well. Now when I nailed it I can make waffles (on the old fashioned cast iron waffle pan), while chatting or playing Sims online (really embarrassed by that). So far I made plain waffles, blueberry waffles, bacon cornmeal waffles and rosemary-garlic potato waffles. My friends loved bacon cornmeal waffles that taste like America. However I am voting for the rosemary-garlic potato waffles which reminds me of Lithuanian potato pancakes with the Italian twist. Try it for yourself (regular waffle maker will do)!

ROSEMARY-GARLIC POTATO WAFFLES
Serves 3-4 people

• 2 medium sized potatoes
• 2 eggs
• 125g plain flour
• 60ml olive oil
• 1 onion (peeled and finely chopped)
• 160ml milk
• 4 garlic cloves (peeled)
• 1/2 tbsp rosemary
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Peel, wash and cut the potatoes into uniform small pieces. Put potatoes and garlic in a large pot with cold water to cover. Add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Then lower heat and cook until potatoes can be pierced easily with a fork drain, reserving about 60ml of potato/garlic water.
2. While potatoes cook, heat olive oil, rosemary and chopped onion in a small frying pan over low heat just until onion softens a bit. Transfer potatoes to a large mixing bowl. Pour oil and onion over drained potatoes.
3. Add milk to still-warm frying pan – just to take chill off – then pour milk over potatoes. Using a fork, a potato masher or a spatula, mash potatoes with oil and milk.
4. Add potato/garlic water and continue to mash until mixture is smooth.
5. Taste potatoes and season liberally with salt and freshly ground pepper. Preheat waffle iron and finish batter by beating eggs into potatoes with a whisk or handheld mixer. Combine together flour and potato mixture.
6. Lightly butter or spray waffle iron grids. (You can skip this step with well-seasoned or non-stick materials.) Scrape batter by half-cup measure onto hot iron, smoothing batter evenly almost to edge of grids.
7. Close iron and bake until brown and crisp.
   

I suggest you serve it with cream fresh to make it more Lithuanian-ish 😉
Rasa xox