Blue-Corn Waffles (Using "The Vegg Baking Mix") and Berry Sauce

Spending several vacations in New Mexico has given me real appreciation for the traditional flavors of the region. I'll spare you a complete recap, as I've previously drooled and blogged at length about my love affair with all foods dusty, earthy and spicy - tamales, green chiles, piñon, posole.

Blue-Corn Waffle with Berry Sauce

But one of my favorite New Mexico items was blue corn. Dried and ground into cornmeal, it really doesn't taste or cook up any differently than regular corn meal, but I do love the blue-lavender tinge it gives to baked goods. I found an unopened bag of blue-corn flour deep in my cupboard this weekend, and used it in my standard cornmeal-and-pecan waffle recipe. While these didn't cook up as brown as regular waffles, (in fact the blue flecks make them look a tad on the anaemic side), they were splendidly DELICIOUS!!

Vegans eat animals for
breakfast too! (Regular
waffles, not blue-corn.)

The people who make the vegan "egg" product called The Vegg, recently sent me a sample of their new Vegg Baking Mix product to try and I used it here as well, rather than my typical flax-egg goo. I was impressed with the lightness it seemed to give the waffles and how easy it was to use in my recipe. While I hadn't really found much practical use for the original "The Vegg" product, I do think this Baking Vegg will be a nice addition to the list of "egg-substitutes" for those who make baked goods, pancakes, waffles and that sort of thing.

If blue-corn isn't your thing, I have dozens of recipes for waffles, just do a search here on my blog. They've always been a weekend standard, and in our house, and they are ALWAYS topped with fruit sauce. (Well, ha! ...almost always!)
When my kids were very little they would call my fruit sauce "gravy" (because it seems everything I make involves gravy in some form or another, they always assumed fruit sauce was "gravy" too!)

New Mexico Inspired Blue Corn Waffles

• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (pastry flour preferred)
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/2 cup finely ground cornmeal
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped or ground pecans, piñons or any nuts of your choice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tsp Vegg Baking Mix with 1/4 cup of water (OR flax-egg-mixture to equal one egg)
• 3/4 cup soy milk (may need more)
• 1 tablespoon canola oil

Preheat waffle iron. We have one of those Belgian Waffle makers that produces extra thick waffles, (we also have one that makes farm-animal shaped waffles) but any kind works...

Mix dry ingredients into a bowl (or batter bowl with pouring spout). Add Vegg mixture, soy milk and oil and stir gently until well mixed. If batter is not a good ladling/pouring consistency, add a little water or soy milk. Pour into waffle maker, and bake until golden and crisp. Serve immediately with maple syrup or fruit sauce.
.

Fresh Raspberry (or ANY Berry) Sauce

• 3 cups fresh raspberries (or other berry of choice), or 3 (10-ounce) packages frozen raspberries, thawed, make SURE to keep whatever juices are in the thawed berries.
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 4 tsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water, orange juice, pomegranite juice, red wine, whatever. (I use water or OJ for my kids)

1. Purée berries, and any berry juice in blender or food processor fitted with metal blade. Blend until berries are well crushed, but don't over blend or you'll blend the seeds into fine grit. Continue to step two if not straining out the seeds:
--- If you want seedless sauce, press purée into small bowl through mesh sieve with back of spoon to remove seeds. Yes, this is time consuming and feels a bit wasteful. But when the kids all had braces... hey...  Add water to make 2 1/2 cups. (I pour the water through the strainer to get any last bits of pulp).
2. If not straining the fruit, continue here:
Stir in sugar and lemon juice to taste. Stir until sugar dissolves. Dilute with reserved juice, if desired.
3. Mix cornstarch with 1/4 cup water, red wine or orange juice.
Heat berry puree to a boil, watching carefully and stirring as needed, once it boils, it will boil over VERY fast. As soon as it boils, add cornstarch mixture and lower heat to med-high. Whisk until it comes back to a boil, thickens, and is not cloudy - should take just a minute.
4. Remove from heat, cool a bit (if you can stand it) serve over waffles, cake, ice cream, pancakes, biscuits, shortcake, anything.

See? It's a lot like GRAVY, isn't it?