This was the last savoury waffle in the book that I hadn't made yet. I had been holding off on making it initially since we were still avoiding shellfish for the Kidlet. But Reiver had put in a request for waffles and I was vibing with a savoury option, so I decided to finally give these ones a try. And they were really good!

Salt and Pepper Waffles with Clam Dip

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

Dip

• 115g bacon
• 1 (185g) can baby clams, drained
• 6 Tbsp. mayonnaise
• 6 Tbsp. sour cream
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/8 tsp. celery seeds, ground

Waffles

• 140g all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 large egg
• 1 c. milk
• 3 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 1-2 green onions, green parts only, sliced

Directions

Dip

1. Cook the bacon until crisp and chop.¹
2. Combine the clams, mayo, sour cream, green onions, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and celery seed.
3. Mix well, taste, and adjust seasonings as desired.
4. Cover and chill for at least an hour.

Waffles

1. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and pepper.
2. Sift in the baking powder and mix well.
3. Beat the egg with the milk.
4. Stir in the melted butter.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined.
6. If you have a "standard"/American waffle iron, you can put 2-3 tsp. of batter into each quadrant and make mini waffles to serve as an appetizer. Otherwise, you can use a normal quantity of batter to make full-sized waffles.
7. Cook according to manufacturer directions.

Assembly

1. Top the waffles with the clam dip.
2. Garnish with sliced green onion (and chopped bacon if you forgot to stir it into the dip like me).

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¹ I forgot to add the bacon to my dip, so I just sprinkled it on top at the end. ^Back

Lobster tails went on sale last week. $5 each! So, of course, I picked up a few. Then it was just a matter of figuring out what to do with them. I was already leaning toward making this clambake. And then I ended up with an accidental surplus of potatoes and corn. And I already had some extra fennel left over that needed to be used up. So this recipe was pretty much perfect to use up those ingredients.

To do it properly, I really should've gotten live mussels and clams and some jumbo shrimp to throw in the pot. But I was trying to do this as a relatively affordable meal, so instead of getting live shellfish, I got some frozen, pre-cooked, in-shell clams, plus a bag of frozen mixed seafood that included squid, mussel meat, and a few teeny, tiny shrimp. Obviously, this wasn't as nice as doing it properly, but it was still very good. Especially the lobster!

Clambake

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 small bulb fennel, chopped and fronds reserved
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme)
• 1/2 tsp. Old Bay (optional)
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 1/2 c. white wine
• 3 c. chicken stock
• 450g small potatoes, quartered
• 450g kielbasa, sliced
• 1-2 lobsters (or 4 small lobster tails)
• 2 ears of corn, husked and quartered
• 24 mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded
• 24 clams, scrubbed
• 12 large shrimp (preferably in-shell)
• lemon wedges (optional)

Directions

1. Melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, fennel, and garlic and cook until softened (5-8 minutes).
3. Add the thyme, Old Bay (if using), and pepper and cook for another minute or two.
4. Add the wine and cook until reduced by half.
5. Add the chicken stock.
6. Add the potatoes, then layer the kielbasa on top.
7. Place the lobsters/lobster tails on top of everything, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.
8. Add the corn, mussels, clams, and shrimp.
9. Cover and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
10. Scoop out the solids and place in a serving dish.
11. Taste the broth and adjust seasonings as desired.
12. Pour broth into the serving dish with everything else.
13. Garnish with fennel fronds and serve with lemon wedges.