Have I mentioned lately that I love my waffle iron?
I do. 
It is joy in a kitchen appliance form.
I’ve rocked pumpkin protein waffles:
And when I ran out of oatmeal, I had spelt-and-tapioca pumpkin waffles (with vanilla yogurt cheese and a drizzle of maple syrup—I just couldn’t resist!). It was based on Jen’s recipe here, though I subbed out the wheat flours for spelt and tapioca, the cow’s milk for almond, and omitted the brown sugar. And it was *so* good!!!
And then one day, I thought: “savoury.”
And “stacks”.
And so this baby was born:
I call this the perfect power breakfast, made more powerful by being eaten at dinner. And for why sometimes you need a seriously powerful dinner, read on…
As for my recipe, it’s not perfected yet, but still darn good… I made the waffle savoury by just omitting the sugar and adding fresh basil, but I think it would have been insanely good (and pretty!) with pesto in the mix, as well… Instead, I put pesto on top for some moisture. I think in the future I should coordinate all my ingredients better so I don’t leave the poached eggs in the pot too long while the rest is cooking—so then the eggs would be runny, bringing some more moisture, and I think tomatoes instead of asparagus would do the same. My obsessive quest for moisture comes from the fact that I just didn’t want to include a sauce on it, because I didn’t really want to recreate a slightly modified eggs Benedict. This was SO flavourful that I liked how it came together, but yeah: a little more moisture wouldn’t go amiss. So for now, I present to you:
Savoury Basil Waffles with Bacon ‘n’ Eggs
For the waffles, you need:
¤ 3/4 cups spelt flour
¤ 1/4 cup tapioca flour
¤ 1.5 tsp baking powder
¤ 1/4 tsp sea salt
¤ 1/4 cup fresh basil, chiffoned
¤ 1 egg, lightly beaten
¤ 1 cup (almond) milk
¤ 2 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
You must:
∞ combine dry ingredients and basil in a bowl, stirring to mix well.
∞ add egg and milk, stirring to incorporate fully, finishing by stirring in the melted butter
∞ cook according to the waffle iron’s directions
Then, you need:
¤ 16 thin sprigs of asparagus, blanched briefly
¤ 2 Tbsp basil pesto
¤ 2 slices bacon (or turkey bacon), cooked
¤ 2 thin slices of sharp cheese, like Asiago
¤ 4 poached eggs
¤ fresh black pepper
You must:
∞ spread 1 Tbsp of pesto (each) on two waffles. Stack cheese, bacon, and asparagus on top, and broil on high for 4 minutes, or until cheese has melted and all components have warmed through.
∞ top with poached eggs and pepper to taste
This makes two nice servings, with about 3-4 waffles leftover… which I froze and popped into the freezer. Just call me SEggo. I served this with a spinach salad on the side and a cup of decaf iced coffee, to complete the breakfast feel, and I was absolutely overjoyed. Then, I went skiing and was really happy for such a power dinner.
Story time!
Especially when, on my way home from skiing, I spun out, beached my car, and needed to dig out. I only spun out because I braked when coming around a corner (because I saw stopped cars up ahead and assumed an accident). It happend *so* fast!! Actually, it wasn’t an accident but someone *else* had also gotten stuck, and a truck had stopped to help. They all came down the hill to help *me*, and none of us had a shovel. I’d taken mine out of the car TWO HOURS BEFORE, when the temp climbed above zero and I thought I wouldn’t need it anymore. Dumbass. 
So four of us were trying to dig me out with car-cleaning brushes, when another car stopped: he had a shovel! And then another car stopped: this guy had lengths of carpet to feed until the tires so they could get some grip. I got free finally, and then we went up the hill to help the first guy who had been stuck. Another truck stopped to help, so that we were a line of 1 stuck car, 1 now unstuck car, and 4 helper cars. This is why living in a small town is great—what community! We dug out the other guy, and all went on our merry ways. Thanks to my power-breakfast-for-dinner, I skied for an hour and spent 45 minutes vigorously playing in the snow, and felt like millions of bucks for it.
I love winter. And waffles. And breakfast for dinner.
January 22nd, 2011 at 16:40
I love making breakfast for dinner. I had it last night. Interesting to make savory waffles. I’ve also seen people make savory oatmeal, but I don’t think that would work for me. The asparagus atop your waffles makes it so pretty.
January 22nd, 2011 at 20:03
Crepes, or monte cristo.
Although, your crazy bacony waffle will make a run for my money!! Btw, have you seen the movie Julie & Julia? Everytime I see eggs and asparagus, I think of that movie.
January 23rd, 2011 at 14:49
Your waffles look so, so good! For themselves already, but especially in contrast to your beautifully blue dishes! I don’t have a waffle iron, but I feel inspired to try out now if spelt flour works for me, and I think I’ll do some baking
soon.
Happy to hear your little snow story had such a happy ending!
January 23rd, 2011 at 15:20
Your story illustrates perfectly the reasoning behind the clutter that is perpetually present in my car, residence, office, etc. As soon as you take the shovel out, you just *know* you’ll get stuck in the snow at the next available opportunity. Anyway, that meal looks super-delicious. And I am hungry. Yum.
January 23rd, 2011 at 15:48
@ Michele: savoury oatmeal sounds awful. I think that whenever someone talks about salting their oatmeal, or when I read bad historical fiction like Diana Gabaldon’s _Outlander_ series (and it just took me four tries NOT to type “oatlander”
) in which people eat porridge in the 18th Century… a random association, I know. 
January 23rd, 2011 at 15:51
Ooooooh… crepes! I could eat crepes at every meal, if I didn’t mind taking in so much demon wheat.
I did see Julie & Julia—and I was SUPER annoyed by it because everyone talks with their mouths full. Argh! The very worst scene was when Julie and her husband are eating a dinner that looks like bruschetta, basically, and he keeps saying “this is so, so good”, and his voice is all distorted by the food… ick! 
But then: Meryl Streep is my hero, and to enjoy her brilliance as Julia Child, I sat through the flick a second time. What can I say? I was on a long-haul flight! 
January 23rd, 2011 at 15:53
Nice of you to comment on the dishware—I was just thinking “I’m so bored with this plate. I need better dishware”… I really like spelt—it’s not necessarily gluten free (some celiacs can eat it and some can’t from what I understand), but I think it’s *so* multi-functional.
January 23rd, 2011 at 15:54
Alina, that’s me to a T. And now, I have to move in a few months after 4 years in one place, and I’m truly terrified at all the “sensible keeping”, aka “pack-ratting” that’s gone on for these last years. Eep.
I hope you’re now eating bacon.
January 24th, 2011 at 17:15
Have I mentioned that you have the cuutest waffle iron ever? (There was something else I wanted to say, but I forget. So let’s leave it with your waffle iron. It’s cute, btw. Höhöhöhö. I love it has a face!)
January 24th, 2011 at 18:11
No, you hadn’t mentioned, but I think he knows. He’s fairly smug, now that I’ve showered him with adulation.
January 24th, 2011 at 18:38
Okay, you’ve already personalized him. That’s great! Does he have a name?
January 24th, 2011 at 22:41
I’ve reflected… and no. It doesn’t seem natural to name kitchen appliances. It doesn’t even seem natural that I named my car, even though I love him and have spent 28,202km reinforcing that love. There’s a limit to my anthropomorphism.
January 25th, 2011 at 15:29
Oh, I always name my special things. My grand piano is called Friedrich Ferdinand I. and the piano at my parents’ home is Luise Charlotte. Now the blender is James. My right (still being there with me) lower jaw salivary gland is called Eddie. This is because I don’t want him to leave me as well, and with a name I can talk better to him, like, “Eddie, don’t! Be nice and stay!” etc.
January 26th, 2011 at 09:39
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January 26th, 2011 at 12:04
umm DELICIOUS!! i love me some waffles… my fav breakfast for dinnner is def pancakes or waffles!
January 26th, 2011 at 14:41
@ Carrie: Hi and welcome! Waffles are my favourite no matter when, no matter how: it’s official.
January 28th, 2011 at 12:23
once again, I am SO happy I’m not one to hit “mark all as read” when my reader gets to… oh… 1000+. (yep – after 1000 it stops counting and just adds a +)
but I am catching up, and am SO glad I did not miss this!!
I will be making these… both of the basil are excited. and the photo with the egg + asparagus? BEAUTIFUL !