What better way to kick off a blog than with a round of household flu and viruses? It's been a rough week in our house. My husband was diagnosed with Flu A Friday morning, and I have been battling a sore throat and congestion all week long. Even with Scott in quarantine leaving me on toddler duty, I was determined to crank this first recipe out! I'll leave a more detailed review below, but I had hoped my first attempt at channeling Sookie St. James would be more reminiscent of five-star review Sookie and less unknowingly-pregnant-sewer-dish Sookie.
I've always gravitated toward food. All of my favorite movies, places and shows have some sort of culinary aspect in common, which is also one of the reasons I've always loved Gilmore Girls. Not only do I share the girls' love for absolute garbage food when the situation necessitates, but I also love the role food plays in the show - the movie night food binges, Friday night dinners and Sookie's legendary spreads at the Independence Inn - and eventually - the Dragonfly Inn. I am no culinary trained chef like Sookie, but throughout my years of food fascination and fumbling around in my own kitchen (just as clumsily as Sookie, I might add) I have built a Food Network repertoire of techniques to give myself enough courage to attempt concocting these recipes - but definitely not without trial and error.
I started by making a peach compote. Error #1: It's not peach season. So right out of the gate the odds of this recipe being anywhere close to legendary are against me. I peeled and diced about 4 peaches to get 3 cups to boil down. Peach pits were flying through the air as I ripped the flesh away with way more force than originally intended. Ideally, this is a good summer recipe as peach season typically begins around May. (According to Google.) I have watched enough episodes of Chopped to know the basic structure of a compote: 2 parts fruit, 1 part sugar, 1 part acidic juice. What I didn't know was how long it would take to cook down. I've always had an issue with effective simmering. Like, these clowns are going with a "plan B compote" with 15 minutes left in the challenge?? I was babysitting this sauce for AN HOUR before I got wise and turned up the heat again long enough for it to reduce down within minutes. I'm not sure if that's considered a sin, but it still thickened nicely without tasting overdone, at least IMO.
Then came the issue of adding the maple. In the pilot episode where this recipe is mentioned, Sookie says she fixed the sauce after finding that too much maple syrup "strangled the fruit." First of all.... what? I've never particularly thought of maple syrup as an overly aggressive condiment, but I took this advice and proceeded lightly in adding the maple, treading between whether 2 - 3 tablespoons was enough, or too much. Lorelai was also spot on when she said diabetics would line up to eat this sauce, because it will only take you one serving to get you there. However, in the end the sauce paired well after an opportunity to be soaked into a fluffy waffle - but be weary to taste as you go, because it is incredibly sweet. When trying out this recipe I would encourage you to play around with using a low sugar syrup or orange juice, or maybe even just maple extract instead of syrup. I would describe the taste as something similar to butterscotch, which I'm not opposed to.
I used the waffle recipe from the Joy of Cooking, and as usual, it didn't disappoint. Joy is one of my most trusted sources in the kitchen for any basic bread or batter recipes, so if you are new to cooking or need a base to jump off of when creating a new recipe, I highly recommend starting there!
Final Review
Overall, this recipe was pretty labor intensive due to stubborn peaches and my slow but steady simmering mentality, but I would say it was well worth it. Since I was the only one partaking of the final results, I have lots of leftovers saved to revisit once we all regain our full sensory palettes. I absolutely love the vibrant color of the peaches, and texture of the sauce. Even if you do use under ripened peaches like I did, given enough time to cook down the diced bits soften nicely after soaking up the liquid.
Rating: Worth a try!
Waffles with Peach Maple Sauce
Peach-Maple Sauce
3 c peeled + diced peaches
1 c sugar
1 cup oj
3 tbsp maple syrup
pinch of salt (optional)
Waffle Batter from the Joy of Cooking
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/4 to 1 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups milk
Directions:
Peel and dice peaches. Boil peaches with sugar and orange juice on medium high heat until fruit is tender and liquid is thickened, about 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add maple sugar. Sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. Set aside and preheat waffle iron.
For waffles, mix all dry ingredients. Mix all wet ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix with a few strokes of a whisk just until incorporated. Batter will be lumpy. Cook on waffle iron.