Categories: Breakfast
Ingredients
- Sausage and Apples Maple Agrodolce:
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 pound high-quality pork breakfast sausage links, sliced
- 1 large sweet onion, such as Vidalia, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 large Granny Smith apple, cored, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 large Gala apple, cored, halved and thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup pure Grade B maple syrup
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
- Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, as needed
- Cheddar-Black Pepper Waffles:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup grated sharp white Cheddar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
- 1/3 cup (5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the waffle iron
- Few dashes hot sauce
- 2 large eggs
Directions
- For the sausage and apples maple agrodolce: Put 1 tablespoon of the canola oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until deeply browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside.
-
Put the remaining tablespoon of oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and toss to coat with the oil, then add the apples, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and some salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until the apples and onions are very soft and caramelized, about 10 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of the apple cider vinegar and remove the skillet from the heat. Stir the sausage, thyme and parsley into the caramelized apples; transfer to a bowl and keep warm.
-
Put the nonstick skillet back over low heat, add the remaining 6 tablespoons maple syrup and 3 tablespoons cider vinegar and swirl a few times to make the agrodolce.
-
For the Cheddar-black pepper waffles: Fit a baking sheet with a baking rack, put the baking sheet in the oven and preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
-
Whisk together the flour, Cheddar, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, hot sauce and eggs in a medium bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Lumps are ok.
-
Preheat the waffle maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Brush the grates with some melted butter. Ladle about 1/3 cup of the waffle batter into each grate, close the cover and cook until golden brown and crispy, about 4 minutes. The waffles will be misshapen, not perfectly square, with rounded corners. When they are cooked, transfer them to the baking rack and continue with the rest of the batter.
-
To serve, put 2 waffles on each of 4 plates. Top each with some sausage and apples and a drizzle of the warm maple syrup and cider vinegar agrodolce. Serve immediately.