A waffle tradition

( FOOD FOR THOUGHT at  www.truthcaster.com )

---

A waffle tradition:
Coming from a Norwegian family, I grew up eating waffles–waffles of all kinds, from the everyday frozen ones from the grocery store to Grandma H.’s heart-shaped Norwegian vaffler served around holidays.

Waffles of the frozen kind were a common breakfast or snack, topped with anything from butter and Grandma D.’s homemade raspberry jam (more on that in a later post) to gjetost–a brown goat cheese, pronounced “yay-toast”–sometimes topped with sliced raw onions. When it came to holidays or special occasions, Grandma H. would pull out her vaffler iron and bake delicate Norwegian waffles, which she would then top with fruit preserves or–yes, you guessed it–slices of gjetost.
Looking back at it, in more recent years I thought of the waffle and goat cheese combination as a little peculiar–something that I loved, but that other people might think was strange. I never really put it together until now, when I realized that for Norwegians, waffles and gjetost go together just as well as peanut butter and jam.

This past Memorial Day my husband and I invited some good friends over for  waffles. (Coincidentally we also had the two of them over for a Champagne and waffle brunch a year ago during the long holiday weekend.) Though bacon and hard-boiled eggs were also on the menu, the real stars of the show were the homemade waffles, served with lingonberry jam, maple syrup, and fresh blueberry sauce. Maybe next time I’ll set out some gjetost and see what they think.
Blueberry sauce

Adapted from About.com’s Southern Food Guide


Whether you’re making breakfast or dessert, whip up a batch up this fresh blueberry sauce. Spread it over homemade waffles in the morning or serve it warm over vanilla ice cream after dinner. This is one recipe that works any time of day.
3 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup sugar

1.5 Tablespoons lemon juice

heaping 1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients except the vanilla extract in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, crushing the blueberries to release the juices as you stir. As it forms a sauce, increase the heat to medium high and cook, stirring constantly until it thickens and reduces slightly. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Chill until it’s the desired temperature (it will continue to thicken as it cools).