Basil and Sun Dried Tomato Waffles

I have been having a lot of fun making experimenting with different sweet varieties of waffles recently, but it suddenly occurred to me yesterday that there was no reason why I couldn’t make savoury waffles as well. My first thought was to add some grated cheese to the batter mixture, but I wasn’t sure if this would ooze out of the waffles during cooking and make a greasy mess and so I decided instead to use the classic combination of tomato and basil. I have used sun dried tomato paste which you can buy from most supermarkets in jars, usually besides the pesto. However, it is not pesto, nor tomato puree, but simply pureed sun dried tomatoes. It gives a wonderful intense flavour to whatever you add it to.

These waffles worked really well and the fresh basil flavour really came through. They were very light with a slightly speckled red-ish tinge to them. I am longing to try out some more variations.

Basil and Sun Dried Tomato Waffles
Ingredients
60g self raising flour
45g butter
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
1 heaped tsp sun dried tomato paste
6 basil leaves

Method
Heat your waffle iron whilst preparing the batter.
Melt the butter in bowl. Add the flour and egg and beat until smooth and thick.
Beat in the sun dried tomato paste and milk.
Tear the basil into shreds and stir into the batter.
Pour into the waffle iron and cook until pale golden.
Serve with any topping of your choice.
Makes 4 waffles

I actually turned my waffles into a sandwich, using the waffles in place of the bread. I spread a waffle with some spicy roasted red pepper houmous and topped it with some crispy lettuce. It made for a really delicious sandwich as the waffles were a lot lighter than normal bread. The tomato, basil and spicy red pepper combination also worked really well together. I think they would also make great toasted cheese ‘sandwiches’ too or even topped like a pizza and then grilled.