Grilling Leftovers: Sushi Burritos

By now, you know that I throw ... basically everything into my waffle iron, particularly leftovers, when the item has degraded.  And I'm willing to put basically anything into the waffle iron.

It was only a matter of time before sushi went in, right?

Encounter #1: June 2020 

The first time, it was a sushi burrito to be exact.  Not something that holds up well.

Grilled Leftover Sushi Burrito -> Poke Bowl?

What is a girl to do when her partner has leftover sushi burrito, and ... the grill is hot?  Yeah, I didn't waffle it, as the grill plates were in, but I certainly had fun, and completely transformed it.

Leftover Sushi(burrito): Will it Waffle? Well, I don't know about waffle technically, but it sure did work well on the grill.  No reason to believe it wouldn't work in waffle iron.

I used my grilled slices on top of a poke-ish bowl, which was kinda awesome for crunch!

The Original:  Geisha's Kiss. $15.

"Yellowfin Tuna (raw) | Tamago | Piquillo Peppers | Taro Chips | Pickled Cucumbers | Green Leaf Lettuce | Sesame White Soya."

The original?  The second half of my partner's Sushirrito order (which I've reviewed several times, I'm a fan!), several hours later.

It was still good (really a well composed creation), but, it was getting soggy (the taro chips in particular!) and I don't actually like raw tuna, so, I had other ideas ...

Leftover Sushirrito: Grilling.

So yes, I cut off a slice and stuck it into the grill.   I think it was at 350*?  Whatever it had been set on previously, to be honest.

It was basically just a big piece of a sushi roll, on a grill, yes.

After a few minutes, it had stuck to the top (doh!) but looked like the concept was working.

I think it likely was done at this point, in terms of the rice being kinda sticky-crunchy, but, I listed to my common words of "if it gets stuck, just go longer!" and let it go longer.

Grilled Leftover Sushi Burrito -> Sushi Chip?

I set about making my other food, and, I admit, let it go a bit too long.

But, it really wasn't as bad as it looked - the dark was mostly seaweed wrapper, not burnt, as it looked at first.

I cut off a chunk.  Ok, it was actually kind of awesome.  The flavors were all still there.  I tasted seaweed, I tasted the peppers.  And the fish?  Nicely grilled!  Much better for me.

Super crispy, obviously.  Less time would have been more like a onigiri (e.g. a grilled rice ball), and this was definitely very crisp, but, hey, I like crispy things.  I am not sure I'd want to eat it an entire roll as basically .... "sushi chips" though.  (Hmm, maybe with wasabi aioli dipping sauce?)

So I sliced it further, and added it on top of a poke inspired bowl.  Heh.  It totally worked.

"Poke" Bowl! With Grilled Leftover Sushirrito Geisha's Kiss Burrito.

"Romaine / Kale / Daikon
Leftover Grilled Sushirrito Geisha's Kiss Burrito / Trader Joe's Breaded Fish Sticks
Spicy Poke Sauce / Wasabi Aioli
Furikake / Minced Onion / Dried Nori Strips / Wonton Chips"

Yeah, ok, I did like this!  I basically made a poke bowl with it on top.  And many other random things.

I'm a greens type of poke girl (not rice), so my base was a nice mix of romaine and curly kale.  Nice crunch, nice mix.  Glad I had it on hand.  Quickly threw in chunks of daikon for more crunch and juicy freshness, absolutely perfect.  Glad I had that in my fridge too.

I added wonton strips too for additional crunch, but really didn't need them with the crispy sushi "chips" at all, I'm just used to tossing those on.  I left out my usual wasabi peas out of laziness, but they would have been great.

There may or may not have been chunks of Trader Joe's Breaded Fish sticks tossed on as well more after the photo, for more protein - its what I had in my freezer, and honestly, I really do like them! Crispy, nice quality fish.

And I added strips of dried nori, but as the sushi roll had plenty of seaweed flavor in it from the wrapper, and I also added tons of furikake with more nori in it too, I likely didn't really need this.

I sauced it with spice poke sauce and wasabi aioli.  Great mix.  A much more than "generous" amount of furikake and minced onion rounded it off.

Overall, this was, well, a satisfying, totally random, creation.  Crispy base, appropriate poke style dressing, LOTS of crunch, and sushi flavors galore.

Encounter #2: July 2020

A few weeks later, I did it again, this time with just leftover, mediocre, grocery store sushi.

The original: Krab Crunch Roll.

The original was a "krab crunch" roll, or something like that, with crab stick, carrots, and cucumber inside (usually avocado, but I'm allergic so I had them prep it fresh and leave out), covered in crunchy bits, and drizzled with tons of sriracha aioli.

It was fine, better than I expected for sushi from a grocery store in NH, and likely helped along by the crispy coating and generous sauce.  I didn't finish it though, and the leftovers ... well, without all the sauce and crunch (gulp, I used them all on the portion I did have), it was a bit lackluster.

So, into the grill I put a slice.

The original: bits of sushi roll broken up.

I also ripped apart several slices, extracting the fillings to toss onto the poke bowl I was attempting to build, and just grilled the pieces of rice (now hard, and bo-oring).

Grilled leftover sushi roll!

I grilled them all up, not too hot and not too long this time, and got lovely grill marks.

I chopped up the rice ones a bit more once cooked, and used as a topping on my poke bowl.  It actually worked great - crispy, glutinous, little chunks.  Wonderful chew and texture.  Definitely improved my bowl.

The full slice was fine, but, I think just the rice was better suited, and keeping the other ingredients just to toss in "fresh".

I really do recommend this, if you have leftover sushi you'll just throw out otherwise ...

Read More...

Waffling Adventures: Freezer Burned Choco Taco

Update Review, June 2020

So, I had another freezer meltdown.  This time my home freezer, along with the fridge.  Sigh.

Yes, the entire thing failed, and yes, it was a nightmare for me, as, well, it was entirely full of my treasures.  Including, um, some Choco Tacos.

The Choco Tacos, like most of the food in the freezer, were perfectly *cold* when I found them, still quite food safe, but, uh, ice cream it most certainly was not.

But I knew exactly what to do with the Choco Tacos at least.  I have waffled them before after all, and it was a great success.  I did eat a few bites of just cold, soggy, chewy defrosted Choco Taco, and I can assure you, that is not tasty.

Into the Grill!

So, I just headed to the waffle iron again, this time using grill plates, since they were already on the iron.

The result was basically the same: it looked like a disaster, but wow, it was shockingly good.  And the grill plates were a much better match for this than the waffle plates, as it extracted far easier.

I again loved eating bits right off the iron, so crispy and caramelized and sweet.

Defrosted, Grilled Choco Taco, with Whipped Cream and Snickerdoodle "Ice Milk".

It extracted with no problem, and I served it up with whipped cream and some re-frozen melted Snickerdoodle ice cream, which I now dub "ice milk" as it most certainly didn't have its creamy texture anymore.

This was, well, just all delicious.

The waffle cone piece of the Choco Taco was hot and crispy, and the ice cream really does caramelized around it beautifully.  Just that alone was delicious, honestly didn't need anything, but whipped cream is always welcome in my world, and the ice milk was actually great, the cinnamon made the whole thing eat a bit like a hot fresh crispy churro.  I was in love.

Some bites had bits of gooey chocolate as well, from the chocolate coating (although, to be honest, I scoped a lot of that out and ate it before it hit the iron), and the chocolate of course was lovely too.

I really adored this, likely even more than a regular Choco Taco, so, one item at least was most certainly not lost due to the meltdown!

Original Review, December 2017

By now, you know that I throw ... basically everything into my waffle iron, particularly leftovers, when the item has degraded.

While a Choco Taco may not *sound* like a leftover, this one was, for reasons you'll soon read about.

Freezer Burned, Refrozen, Choco Taco Transformation.

You can pull out your skeptics hat now, because I sure had mine on.  I thought this was just going to be for fun, since the product was ruined anyway.

But I was thrilled with the result.

So, Freezer Burned, Refrozen, Choco Taco: Will it Waffle?  Shockingly, yes.

It was more successful than I ever imagined.

Choco Taco.

"Vanilla ice cream with fudgy swirls wrapped in a crunchy sugar cone taco, then drenched in a thick, chocolatey coating and sprinkled with peanuts."
I started with a Klondike Choco Taco.  For the unfamiliar, it is a sugar cone that is made into a taco shell, stuffed with vanilla ice cream with chocolate swirls, dipped in chocolate, and coated in chopped peanuts.

I have fond memories of these from the rare times growing up when we were allowed to get them at Del Taco, after our taco salads.

Freezer Burned, Defrosted & Refrozen, Choco Taco.

I had a box of them in my freezer, excited to pull them out one day.

But, a bit of a disaster struck.  My chest freezer, where I store my non-essentials, broke.  The compressor failed.  Everything inside was still cold, so, food safe, but, things like ice cream were rather ruined.

But I didn't have the heart to throw it all out.  I threw plenty out, don't get me wrong, but I stashed the Choco Tacos back in, with a side thought, "maybe it will waffle".

I tried a bite of the now re-frozen creation.  It was soggy, the shell tasted stale, and the ice cream clearly icy and freezer burned.  What you'd expect.  Trash.

Except it wasn't.

Into the Waffle Iron.

I heated the waffle iron up to the highest setting (450 degrees), thinking that I'd kinda like to sear the taco cone so it got crispy, while maybe keeping the ice cream frozen?

I put it into the waffle iron (yup, there was my bite taken out), pressed down, and walked away for a second.

The sounds coming out of the waffle iron were instant.  Something was, uh, clearly cooking.  It was much more noisy than usual.

30 Seconds In ...

It was so noisy I opened the lid much sooner than I usually do, less than a minute in.

It was ... a bubbling disaster.  The ice cream melted out instantly, all over the waffle plates.  The taco cone shell was still soggy.

I thought all hope was lost, but closed it again.

The sounds continued.  I laughed at myself, and starting thinking about what a pain it would be to clean up.

A few minutes more ...

I let it go a few minutes more, commenting that I really just didn't know what to do.  I didn't think anything positive would come of it at this point.

When I opened the lid again, I could see it was about to start burning.  But the cone did crisp up.

I pulled out a wooden chopstick (my preferred extraction tool), and ran it through the liquid, scooping some up.  I tasted it.

It was ... good.  Piping hot, but, it tasted sorta like dulce de leche, something in that direction.  It was a liquid-like, but had incredible caramelized flavor.  I guess this is what happens to ice cream when it cooks?

I was also very surprised at how easily it came out, so, I extracted the whole thing.

Waffled Choco Taco.

Still, the larger taco didn't look very good.  It did however extract easily, in one piece, leaving no mess behind.  I was shocked.  It solidified within seconds.  Hmmm.  I did have a waffle, after all.

I had to try a bite, right?

I was blown away.

The sugar cone taco shell did indeed get crispy, and, it was now totally caramelized from the ice cream that somehow turned into sweet caramel.  A crispy, sweet wrapper.

A wrapper around what?  The ice cream clearly had all melted out, right?  Yes.  But the chocolate ... it stayed inside.  I was beyond shocked when I bit in, and something came squirting out.  Inside was like a molten chocolate cake.

Basically, I had a crispy shell, molten chocolate, and a prevailing dulce de leche taste.  It was delicious.  Beyond successful, and transformed what was clearly otherwise trash.

I'm so glad I tried this one, and that I have an entire box to play with!

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Waffling Leftovers: Salad

Update Review, March 2020

It was only a year or so ago that I discovered the perfect way to salvage leftover salad that was past its prime: waffle (or grill it!).  I've since repeated that trick several times, always to great success, but, I just haven't actually frequently had much soggy salad on hand, or, I've just been busy and eaten it limp and all in a rush.  Until, well, Shelter in Place time, when I had more time on my hands, and needed some way to be creative.

Like, you know, grilling my leftover salad.  I was again pleased with the results, and I encourage anyone with some lackluster lettuce to give it a shot.

The Original: Ceasar Salad from The Melt.

The original was a perfectly fresh, crispy, ceasar salad, with shredded parmesan (and grilled cheese croutons!) from The Melt.  It was great fresh.

Leftover Ceasar Salad.

The leftovers however, were ... not as great.  I packaged them up to save for the next day, sans dressing and croutons, thinking it would hold up fine, but, alas, it did not.  I think the generous amount of shredded parmesan in particular was the problem, as it made it moist, and the entire thing got pretty soggy fast, even without dressing.

But I knew how to save it.  I had grill plates in my waffle iron/grill, so, into the grill it went.

Into the Grill!

After just a minute it was steaming, and the parmesan was melting.

It was looking goooood!

Grilling Away.

Another two minutes, and it was getting slightly charred, exactly as I wanted.

Grilled Ceasar Salad.

I could have let it go longer to get more crispy, more akin to kale chips (er, lettuce chips), but I pulled it at this point, scraping it all into a bowl, and topping with a spicy Korean sauce.

It was delightful.  The shredded parmesan cheese turned crispy like a frico, the lettuce was juicy and crispy at the same time.

Best way to save a salad!

Original Review, January 2018

By now, you know that I like to waffle random leftovers.  I've found it to be a remarkable way to actually reheat leftovers, often transforming unappealing items into something totally salvageable.  Plus, obviously, I have fun with it.

Sometimes, I'll admit, I throw something into the waffle iron mostly for the novelty aspect.  Like, when I waffled pudding.  I didn't exactly expect that to work.  Or this time, when, uh, I waffled leftover salad.

Bear with me for a minute.

Have you ever seen a caesar salad with grilled romaine?  It shows up on menus from time to time.  The waffle iron is mostly like a grill.  I wasn't expecting it to magically turn lettuce into a waffle, obviously, but, I thought it would grill it.

The other reason I did it though?  I had some extremely wilted, soggy, unappealing, leftover salad, that there was just no way I could eat as it was.  I could throw it out, or I could have some fun.  I sorta thought that perhaps it would be a bit like making kale chips too, and the moisture would get sucked out of the soggy leftover lettuce.

It didn't transform into lettuce chips, but, honestly, it was a breakthrough.

Put simply, Leftover Salad: Will it waffle?  Yes, yes, yes!

I encourage you to consider it when you have leftover salad too.  Don't just toss it.  It also really makes me wonder why grilled salads aren't more a thing (I understand that waffling salads isn't, but, why don't we see more grilled salads?).  This not only transformed items destined for the trash, it was really legitimately good.

Waffled Salad Transformation, v1.0.

In the first version of this (yes, spoiler, I innovated further), I only waffled the lettuce, leaving the other ingredients out.

The Original: Heirloom Tomato Salad with Cucumber and Pickled Onions.

The original was a very tasty salad, huge leaves of assorted lettuces (red leaf, little gem, etc), slices of fresh cucumber, totally delicious heirloom cherry tomatoes, and tart pickled onions.  The dressing was even more amazing, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, thai basil.

Soggy Leftover Salad.

We had a ton of leftover, so I saved it.  The salad was undressed, so, I thought it would keep fine for a day, but unfortunately, the moisture from the tomatoes and onions did it in.

By the next day, the lettuce was limp, wilted, soggy, and really not good at all.  No matter how tasty the dressing was, or how amazing the heirloom tomatoes still were, there was just nothing appealing about this salad.

But I didn't have anymore fresh lettuce.

A normal person would just extract the tomatoes and onions, mix them with some tasty dressing, and have a little tomato salad.  But I am not a normal person.

When I have lackluster leftovers, only one thing comes to mind.  My waffle iron.

Lettuce: Into the Waffle Iron ...

So yes, into the waffle iron the lettuce went.  I did keep the tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions out of it (at least, this time).

I literally just spread the wilted soggy leaves into the iron, 350 degrees, and let it go.

Waffled Lettuce?

I pulled it out after it started looking "done".  It was not waffled exactly, more like grilled, but, it worked, really.

It was warm, slightly wilted, slightly grilled lettuce.  The moisture was sucked out, as I hoped.  It reminded me of roasted escarole actually.

I failed to take a photo of the final creation, but, I topped it with the tomatoes, pickled onions, and tasty dressing.  It didn't have the crispness nor freshness that regular raw lettuce salad has, but, it totally worked, and I enjoyed it, and was inspired.

Waffled Salad Transformation, v2.0.

Inspired for round 2.  I knew I could do better.  And I had a lot more salad to play with.

The lettuce alone was good, but, why not just waffle the whole thing?  It would be just like grilling, right?  Grilled onions and blistered tomatoes are delicious.  So, why not?  Waffling would be just about the same as grilling, right?

Entire Salad: Into the Waffle Iron ...

This time, I put the whole salad in.  Super soggy greens, halves of tomatoes, onions, and all.

I mean, why not?

I closed the lid, pressed down, and walked away, a bit giddy with myself.

Salad: Cooking Away ...

And, as expected, everything started looking grilled after a few minutes.

The tomatoes got beautiful char marks, turned blistered, just like they had been slow cooked.  The onions started looking grilled.  The aroma was lovely.

"Waffled" Salad Success!

I plated it all up, drizzled the dressing over it after.  I loved it.

Was it a waffle?  Of course not.  But does a waffle iron work perfectly well as a grill?  Absolutely.

Just like in the first batch, the waffle iron saved that wilty, soggy, totally gross lettuce.  It was warm, slightly charred, and actually good like this.  The tomatoes got a bit of char, split open, and acted like they had been slow roasted for hours.  I don't think I need to convince you that grilled onions are a great thing.

This was a remarkable transformation, and I'll clearly do it again.

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Waffling Leftovers: Stuffing

Update Review, December 2019

I somehow often have leftover stuffing, and long ago discovered waffling as a fantastic way to re-use my stuffing.  You can start with my earlier reviews below to read more about my early journey into waffling stuffing.

Spoiler: it is an easy winner.

Mom's Pecan Cranberry Cornbread Christmas Stuffing.

The original was one of my absolute favorite holiday dishes: my mom's stuffing she serves for Christmas eve dinner, made with her own cornbread, plenty of tart juicy cranberries, crunchy pecans, and a classic white wine base.

I honestly can't get enough of this stuffing, and regularly eat an extremely inappropriate amount of it.  I love it hot, I love it cold, I most certainly love it straight from the container from the fridge, at *any* time of day.  Shhh, don't tell mom!

I didn't need to do anything special to it to enjoy it, but by the third day of eating yet another portion, it was time to try out the waffle iron ...

Leftover Stuffing in the Iron.

I put zero thought into my preparation technique, just heating up the waffle iron at a standard 350*, and plopping in a scoop.  I may or may not have consumed just as much of it cold as I was putting it into the waffle iron as I put in.

Crispy Stuffing!

It crisped up nicely, as I knew it would, and I dumped it onto my plate of leftovers with glee.

I failed to take a final photo, but, no question, this waffled great, and I loved the extra crunch.

Update Review, October 2017

This is an update of the exact same stuffing I previous reviewed, except, this time it started plucked from the freezer, rather than regular leftovers, because I had so much extra, I froze a bunch too.

Leftover Challah Herb Stuffing.

It transformed in exactly the same way as the original leftovers, much better than simply reheating frozen leftover stuffing.

The Original: Thawed, Previously Frozen, Leftover Stuffing.

The original was more of the same stuffing I loved before, but this time, it came from the freezer.  I had tons left over when it was fresh, and froze some immediately then, knowing that I loved it, but there was no way I'd eat it all over the subsequent few days.

I eagerly pulled it out once I was ready for stuffing again, and let it thaw in the fridge for a day.  I heated some up in the toaster oven, and was pretty sadden by the result.  It was just too soggy.  Somehow, it wouldn't crisp up, even in a hot oven.  It was mushy.  The flavor was still there, but, the freezer had done some serious damage (which actually really surprised me, I freeze bread pudding, baked goods, breads, all the time with no problems, but this just really didn't hold up).

I decided to throw the final portion into the waffle iron instead of heating traditionally, as it simply just wasn't good that way, and I figured it wouldn't hurt to try.

Waffling ...

I didn't do anything to it, just put it in, 350 degrees, let it go for a bit.

Since it was so moist, there was lots of steam escaping from the waffle iron, which concerned me slightly, but I didn't really care.  I was going to throw it out otherwise anyway.

I let it go for about 5 minutes, and then took a peek.

Waffled Leftover Frozen Stuffing.

And ... it turned into a waffle!  It got crispy!  The mushy, sogginess was gone!

This salvaged the leftovers that would have been trash otherwise.  I liked the crispy bits, and still loved the flavors.

I have one more container full in the freezer, and there is no question how I'll be preparing the rest of it.

Original Review, January 2017

I don't know how I've failed to write this one up before.  Stuffing was one of the first things I waffled.  I really must have written this, but somehow lost it?  I have no other explanation of how I've never told you about waffling stuffing before.  I promise you, I was doing it *before* it was trendy!

(Side bar: yes, I made a Thanksgiving meal one year entirely out of waffled items.  And another year I made it look like an ice cream sundae, with a stuffing waffle as the base, and ice cream scoop of mashed potatoes on top, drizzled of gravy and cranberry sauce, etc).

Anyway, if this is your first time reading about my waffling adventures, go ahead at start with the master post.

I probably don't need to say it, but, Leftover Stuffing: Will it waffle?  YES!

The Original: Leftover Herbed Challah Stuffing.

The original was herbed challah stuffing, made with a base of challah, celery/onions/leeks/mushrooms/garlic, tons of herbs, and plenty of butter and white wine.

It was great stuffing, and I was more than happy to eat leftovers traditionally.  But on my third day of Thanksgiving leftovers, I finally waffled it ...

Midway Through Cooking.

I scooped in a big pile, and closed the lid, set to 350 degrees, and walked away for a few minutes.

I returned to find a bit of a mess.  A little stuck on top, one corner burning, and nothing really holding together.

Ooops.  I think this is likely just because the stuffing was sooo moist.

Extracted Version.

I let it go a bit longer to try to get it to hold its form better, but it just got crispier, almost burnt.  It was impossible to extract in one chunk.

It it was still tasty.  Crispy outside, moist inside, and fun to dunk into gravy.

I wish I had my photos of the better versions I've made though, because stuffing, or savory bread pudding, really do waffle wonderfully!

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Waffling Leftovers: Biscuits

I went through a phase where I used my waffle iron to prepare nearly all food.  Well, all my leftovers that is.  For many things, the effort of throwing leftovers into a waffle iron was just as easy as heating up any other way, and for most, the results were spectacular.  I had a ton of fun, a ton of successes, and really did evangelize it extensively.  You can check out my master post for more of those adventures.

I still use my waffle iron, or just panini plates, on my trusty Griddler many times a week.  But it has been ages since I've tried a new item.  At long last, a new creation: waffle iron leftover biscuits.

To answer the age old question: Will it waffle?  This one is an easy yes, and, another case of improvement.  Adding to my repertoire ...

The Original: Classic Bisquick Biscuits.

On Christmas morning, my mother makes a lovely brunch spread, complete with my favorite bread pudding (from Smitten Kitchen, the pumpkin bread pudding - soooooo good!), phenomenal sticky buns (King Arthur Flour recipe), and a slew of savory brunch staples (bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, multiple egg dishes, etc, etc, etc).  A neighbor always gives us her homemade fantastic walnut streusel coffee cake, which really rounds out the whole spread.  It is a lovely feast, with plenty of sweet carbs (my favorite breakfast items!)

My mom also usually makes muffins and scones, which always just feels like overkill at that point.  They are good, don't get me wrong, but no one really has space for them, and they just pale in comparison to the other offerings.

So this year I suggested something different: biscuits.  I was thinking that they could be quite versatile, and allow people to take them in any direction they wanted.  In the mood for savory rather than more sweet?  Split in half, and fill with the egg scramble, or sausage and cheese, or smother with leftover Christmas eve feast gravy.  Want something just a touch sweet?  Add mom's homemade cranberry orange honey butter.  More sweet?  Treat like shortcake and add fresh berries and whipped cream.  So. Many. Options.

I loved them fresh with sausage and maple syrup.  I really, really loved them later in the day warmed up and slathered with the cranberry orange honey butter.

Day Old Biscuits: Waffling!

But the next morning ... they had lost their splendor.  The flavor was muted, the texture a bit off.  Not stale exactly, but nothing like the previous day.

Biscuits are just one item that does not do well a day old.  Which I knew from plenty of experiences, I've yet to find a biscuit that really holds up, no matter the style (classic southern buttermilk, sweeter shortcake biscuits, more scone-like biscuits ...).

So what do you do with day old biscuits?  I often use them mixed into bread pudding.  But we had tons of leftover bread pudding (and cornbread stuffing) so we really didn't need another dish like that.  Thus, into the waffle iron they went.

I split a biscuit in half, inserted at 350*, and let it go for just a few minutes.

Waffled Day Old Biscuit.

It toasted up nicely.  I'm sure I could have gotten a similar effect from a toaster or toaster oven, although I think I got more crispy bits this way, as there are more contact points.

Plus, just like with normal waffles, the newly created pockets would be great for holding toppings!

Waffled Biscuit with Toppings.

One half got the sweet treatment, fluffy marshmallow whipped cream and sprinkles, and the other half got more of that homemade cranberry orange honey butter (can you tell I couldn't get enough of it?)

Both ways worked, although the sweet one clearly needed more embellishment, and right after the photo was taken, fresh berries and a bit of ice cream were added.  The cranberry orange honey butter version was a complete winner though, I loved how the butter pooled up inside the pockets, and added plenty more.

I was very pleased with the results, more functional (pockets!) than the original, nearly as tasty as the first day, and it really saved these leftovers.

Read More...

Waffling Leftovers: Mashed Potatoes & Potato Puree

Update, December 2019

As you know from my earlier posts, leftover mashed potatoes are something I often try to throw into a waffle iron, as they always seem like they should waffle beautifully, but they really do require a bit of extra love to get perfect.

This is a story of being lazy though, and not entirely putting in that effort.  The result however was still tasty!

The Original: Homemade Mashed Potatoes.

The original was my sister's mashed potatoes, served as part of our Christmas eve spread.  Butter, milk, and her "secret" ingredient: cream cheese.  Good, classic, creamy mashed potatoes.

The Leftovers: Cold Mashed Potatoes.

But we had a ton left over.  Trying to get others to help me eat them up, I kept offering them to my father in particular, who I thought liked mashed potatoes, but only learned then that he loves hashbrowns, homefries, fries, roast potatoes, baked potatoes, anything like that, but NOT mashed potatoes.  I somehow never noticed that in all his potato eating, he never went for mash.

I asked about potato pancakes.  He hadn't ever had them.  I offered to transform the leftover mashed potatoes into potato pancakes, and he said he'd try them that way.

But then I got lazy.

Very Advanced Prep!

I got VERY lazy.  Instead of making potato pancakes, forming patties, pan frying them ... I ... uh ... just dumped a big pile of mashed potatoes into the waffle iron.

Now, of course I know from my own previous experiences, that mashed potatoes don't usually waffle very well without crusting.  I knew I should crust them.

But, lazy.

Partway through cooking ...

I set the waffle iron to a standard 350*, and set off to gather other leftovers to pair with his mashed potato waffles.

When I checked once, they were looking pretty pale.  I knew better than to just do them this way ...

Golden Brown Potatoes!

Yet I left them, and let them go a bit longer.

They did get a nice light golden brown, and even extracted fairly easily.  Were they crispy though?  Not really.  But at least they didn't make a mess?

Waffled Mashed Potatoes & Mom's Meatballs.

I served them with some leftover meatballs, really, a meal that made no sense, but hey, it was leftovers season, and this was at least slightly interesting?  He had leftover meatballs the day before with leftover brunch hashbrowns on the side, so it seemed not much different.

I'd say he ... tolerated the mashed potato waffles.  Declared them better than mashed potatoes, but, as I knew, he wanted something crispier than this.

I really should have crusted them, or at least maybe oiled the waffle iron.

Original Review, May 2017

Do you really need an intro to my Waffling Leftovers series at this point?  By now, you know what I do.  I reheat my leftovers, generally as is, in my waffle iron.  And I usually love the results.  I've covered Italian main dishes (lasagna, pizza, etc), I've covered casseroles (tuna noodle, shepherd's pie, etc), and now, its on to side dishes (like the crazy successful grits from last week).

Mashed/pureed potatoes: Will it Waffle?  Yes ... but, like mac and cheese, some crusting is required to maintain structural integrity.  Or ... make it opened faced.  More on that below ...

Mashed Potatoes

The ingredient I had in mind for this experiment was simple: leftover mashed potatoes. 

Mashed Potatoes.

The potatoes actually came from leftover shepherd's pie, so there was a bit of peas, carrots, and corn also in the mix, but, just go with it.

Inside the waffle maker ...

I thought the mashed potatoes would waffle up and get a crispy exterior, like a potato pancake.  It sorta did ... except, there was absolutely no structural integrity.

I left it cooking for quite a while longer, and it got slightly more crispy, but it was clear that there was no way I'd ever be able to extract it as a full waffle from the waffle iron.

Tasty, and I liked the crispy bits, but certainly not a waffle.

Crusted Mashed Potatoes.

I had a tiny bit left of the mashed potatoes, that I was planning to just heat up and eat as regular mashed potatoes, but I couldn't resist trying to improve on my failed experiment.

Remembering how adding a cornflake crust made waffled mac and cheese a success, I added a crushed cornflake crust to the mashed potato and made a tiny little crusted mashed potato patty and waffled it.

And ... it worked.  While this was a small test, it held together fine and got super crispy on the outside.  I didn't mind the slight cornflake contamination of my mashed potatoes either, although I certainly wouldn't think of combined the two normally.

Next time, I'd certainly go for a crust again, although I'd try breadcrumbs.

Potato Puree

A few months later, I again had leftover mashed potato.  Ok, technically, it was potato puree, not mashed potatoes. 

Potato Puree.

The puree was incredible, loaded up with soooo much butter and cream, plus chives for even more flavor.  It was crazy creamy, crazy decadent, and oh so delicious.

Thus, into the freezer the leftovers went.

Leftover Potato Puree.

I pulled out the leftovers, and heated one block up in the toaster oven.  It came out fine, and I was impressed at the texture of the potatoes, even when frozen and reheated.  I think because it was such a smooth puree, no strange texture resulted from the freezing, as usually happens with mashed potatoes.

But you know me, I wanted to waffle things, so, into the waffle iron the other chunk went.

Almost there ...

Except ... I forgot to read my previous post, and failed to crust it.  I remembered this when I opened the lid to check on it, but actually, it looked like it was holding its structure fine, just obviously not done yet.

So, I let it go a bit longer, so the two halves would bind together.

Done!

I waited a bit too long though, as the top got a bit burnt.  Somehow the bottom side didn't though, which upset me slightly, because it means that my waffle plates aren't the same temperature ...

Anyway, even without crusting, this was a success.  It held together nicely, was super crispy on the outside, and a bit creamy inside.  It was kinda like hashbrowns or fries even.  I really enjoyed it, even if slightly over done.

Mashed Potato - Open Faced?

Another day, another batch of mashed potatoes to waffle, but this time, something didn't go quite as planned ...

The Original: Silky Smooth Mashed Yukon Golds.

I started with some seriously good mashed potatoes.  Just mashed yukon golds, with the perfect amount of butter and milk.  Creamy, with a bit of texture from a few chunks.  They were really fantastic potatoes, somehow not too decadent, but also still very delicious.  I think there was likely more butter than I realized, but, hey, they were great.

They were great cold the next day.  They were great warmed up in the oven.  But, I had to try waffling them too.

Cooking Underway.

I did not crust the potatoes.  I set the waffle iron to 350°  fairly randomly.  I was having them for breakfast, so I was going for more of a thin crispy hashbrown style than a big potato pancake, so I spread it in fairly thin.

After a few minutes of cooking, things didn't look good.  After 5 more minutes, it still didn't look good.  Because I did it so thin, the top grill didn't make contact with the potatoes, so it looked like a pool of mush, not crisping up.  I thought it was going to be a disaster to remove.  I didn't take a photo, and decided it was likely a waste.  I put another batch of potatoes in the regular oven, and returned to the waffle iron to clean up.

Lightly Waffled Mashed Potatoes!

And then I realized my creation was actually fine.  The bottom was in contact with the plates.  It did crisp up, lightly, and it didn't burn.  The waffle extracted from the iron with no problem.  And the top (now underside once I flipped it out), was creamy and moist.  It was the best of both worlds.

I actually loved this creation, and it inspired me to think about more "open-faced" style waffles, where I only intentionally waffle the underside, either by doing it thin like this, or, by not closing the top.

The evolution continues ...

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