Ingredient of the Week: Blueberries

Blueberries are coming into season, and chefs Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau have some recommendations for what to do with them.

Thierry, literally taking a page from Tom’s book, prefers to take his blueberries the savory route with a corn and blueberry salad. On-the-go Katie O, however, would rather make a good, old fashioned, blueberry pie.

If you’ve noticed that your blueberries aren’t quite there, as Tom says, he recommends crushing them. “Make a lamb chop marinade,” he says, and add them to the meal where you don’t expect them, “a hint of blueberry, not in your face.”

He recommends using “crushed blueberries, a little balsamic vinegar, maybe a little red wine, salt and a tablespoon or so of olive oil, and you’ve got a lamb chop marinade, [or] a pork chop marinade.”

After marinading, Tom says to grill it on a charcoal grill, and, after the chop is done cooking, he recommends cooking a little of the marinade to make a relish or chutney.

Thierry adds that, if the blueberries are too sweet for your taste, you can always pickle them in a mixture of sugar, water, and vinegar brought to a boil on the stove, then cooled and poured over the blueberries. They should keep for about a week.

Whole Foods Markets are a proud sponsor of Seattle Kitchen’s Ingredient of the Week.