Fast and Easy Potato-Zucchini Waffles

Fast and Easy Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

Fast and Easy Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

by Victoria Challancin

I came home today after a busy afternoon of working with a non-profit charity, Mujeres en Cambio, which, among other things, gives out scholarships to young women who live in the many out-lying rural communities of San Miguel de Allende.  Perhaps one day I will write more about this project, as I believe in it so strongly and am so pleased to be a part of helping these girls further their education. But for today, I'll just tell you about what I cooked when I got home, whipped!

Looking for a refreshing and easy vegetarian meal for my husband to be made with ingredients I had on hand (mainly potatoes, zucchini, and tomatoes), I settled on a recipe in my head that I have made in the past.  Subsequent research reveals that the lovely food blog Cara's Cravings was my original inspiration, though I just tossed this together in my own way when I started cooking.  I am a big fan of the waffle iron, you see.

 Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

Essentially, these are just a riff on the zucchini pancakes I wrote about here, only this time I made a horseradish-enhanced yogurt accompaniment instead of tzatziki.  A food processor made quick work of the shredding of the ingredients and the waffle iron completed the job, leaving me just enough time to slice some ripe tomatoes, smoked sea salt from Trader Joe's, and a drizzle of olive oil and toss together a quick sauce.  This meal came together in a matter of minutes and was tasty and satisfying in every way.  A quick lunch indeed.

  Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

Cook's Notes:  A nice variation on this recipe might be to add 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and serve it with a chunky tomato sauce.  You can either grate the potatoes and zucchini on the large holes of a box grater or just pop them into the food processor, using the shredding disk, as I did. I measured the vegetables after I had grated them only because I decided then to write about them and needed to know how much I used.  It was 2 large baking potatoes and 6 small Mexican zucchini, but that will depend on the size of the vegetables.

Recipe:  Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

(Recipe by Victoria Challancin inspired by Cara's Cravings)

2 cups shredded potato with skin

2 cups shredded zucchini 

3 small green onions (white and a bit of green)

1 large garlic clove, pressed

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3 large organic eggs

1 1/2  teaspoons fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

Either grate the potatoes and zucchini on the large holes of a box grater or use a food processor with a shredding disk.  Place the grated vegetables in a large metal bowl and blot with several paper towels.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine the ingredients and distribute the flour.  Cook in a waffle machine according to machine instructions or pan-fry as fritters in a skillet with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil.  Serve with the yogurt sauce if desired (see recipe below).

Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

Cook's Notes:  Sour cream would work equally well as yogurt as would lemon juice instead of vinegar.

Recipe:  Mustard-Horseradish Yogurt Sauce with Dill

(Recipe by Victoria Challancin)

1 1/2 cups plain natural yogurt

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 heaping tablespoon horseradish, or to taste

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar or lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon minced fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 

Combine ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.  Check and adjust seasoning to taste.  Serve chilled.

Enjoy!

San Miguel Magic

Yes, San Miguel de Allende is special.  Yes, it has been conferred UNESCO World Heritage status.  Yes, every magazine in the world seems to have written it up as a top world cultural destination.  Why?  Is it the singular beauty of this 550-year old city?  The colonial buildings? The surrounding mountains?  The arts?  The quaintness?  The fabulous churches, fountains, gardens?  The people themselves and their oh-so-lovely culture?  What really makes San Miguel so special?  Of course, it is an amalgam of all these things and so much more.  But perhaps for me it is the beauty of the unexpected.  Take today, for example...

While I can hardly call the festival of all-things-Cuban "unexpected,"  I was still surprised.  I had read about it and knew it was coming after all.  Yet when I rounded the corner on my way to distribute the scholarships I mentioned at my friend Pakina's family restaurant, La Terraza, located right off the main square, I was blasted with heady, tropical rhythms and the sounds of people dancing and singing.  Cuban-style, of course.  That, and more.  Sprinkle in a few of my beloved mojigangas, giant paper mache figures worn in parades by dancing people and used as props otherwise at practically every event (you have seen more of these on my blog, as in these Mexican ones from the Chili Cook-Off), some books on Cuba, an enlightenment on the cuisine, a couple of beauty queens, and, of course, the singing dancers, and you have the makings of a proper San Miguel festival.  But it was mainly the whimsical mojigangas that grabbed my attention.

San Miguel de Allende.  Always a surprise.

 A Cuban-Style Mojiganga

His Partner

A little perspective...with beauty queens

If you enjoyed this post, you might like:

The Zucchini Fritters with Tzatziki recipe here.

Or the Cinnamon Roll Waffles recipe here.

Or more mojigangas and festivities here.

©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.