From Greg Atkinson

Every year when the great, invasive blackberry vines deliver their fruit, I feel a little tinge of regret, because as soon as the blackberries arrive, summer is on the way out. All up and down the shores of Puget Sound ripens this bounty of dark berries, and gathered around the vines, like so many bears collecting calories for winter are people quietly gathering their fill. I see them with babies in backpacks and toddlers in strollers, sometimes single folks alone with little Tupperware cartons tending to the harvest.

Some measure of wistfulness, some pining over missed opportunities inevitably becomes a part of blackberry time. They are inherently nostalgic; the very smell of the berries evokes the past, and for anyone who has lived here long enough, blackberry season evokes summers past. But this is satisfying too. The vines are tenacious, relentless in their pursuit of this good soil; they seem to embody the life force. And even as they announce that summer’s almost over, they remind us that other summers are on the way. Already they are laying roots for next year’s crop.

It seems odd that the northwest’s unofficial totem plant is not a native. Of course the West Coast does have an indigenous blackberry; “The small coast trailing berry with its sweet-tart flavor,” as my friend Sharon Kramis has described it in her book Berries, a Country Garden Cookbook. In our neighborhood, the native berries have held their own. A secret low-growing vines in hidden nooks here and there provide just enough sweet tart berries to brighten a walker’s mouth. There never seems to be enough to gather serious quantities for the kitchen.

It is the towering Himalayan “which is juicy and seedy,” according to Kramis, that is a potent symbol of the Pacific Northwest. And while it is no more native to the region than the Scandinavian families who came here when the railroad tracks were laid, or the French traders who worked for the Hudson Bay Company when the place was still primal forest, it is every bit as much a part of the lore of the region, and for late-comers like us, it might as well have been here all along. Certainly, no one is going to get rid of it any time soon.

No one will get rid of the vines, but this year’s berries won’t last, and so while they are still on the vine, we gather them, and eat them. Some will go into a batch of Willie’s Crisp. We’ll make Chicken Salad with Blackberries, and stir some into a Blackberry Butter Sauce for Salmon. A handful will land beside a wedge of White Chocolate Cheesecake. And with a few more sealed up in jars in the form of Blackberry Jam, we’ll pat our bellies and wait for fall.

Organic Chicken and Blackberry Salad with Feta and Walnuts
If you are grilling breasts of chicken for one meal, grill enough for two and save the second round for this incredibly delicious main dish salad. For an extra flavor boost, try toasting the walnuts in a skillet with a tablespoon of sugar, stirring until the sugar caramelizes around the nuts, or use commercially prepared sugared walnuts. Pre-washed greens help this salad come together in a flash.

Serves 4

For the Vinaigrette:
1/2 pint fresh blackberries
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons toasted walnut oil

For the Salad:
1 (10-ounce) bag organic, pre-washed mixed salad greens
1/2 pint fresh blackberries
1/2 cup toasted or sugared walnuts
1/4 pound feta cheese, crumbled
2 (6-ounce) breasts of organic free range chicken, grilled and cooled
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1.) Make the vinaigrette. Pile the blackberries with the vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in the blender and puree until smooth. Pass the puree through a strain to remove the seeds and whisk in the walnut oil. Toss the salad greens with about half the dressing and keep the other half of the dressing on hand to top the finished salads.

2.) Distribute the dressed salad greens evenly between 4 serving plates. Distribute the blackberries, walnuts and feta cheese evenly over the salad greens. Slice the breasts of chicken across the grain into 1/8-inch strips and fan them over the salads and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pass the extra salad dressing at the table.
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Grilled Wild King Salmon with Blackberry Butter Sauce
Some cooks know immediately what a certain combination of foods will taste like before they even try it; others cannot know until they try. People sometimes balk at the notion of seafood and berries, but as soon as they taste it, they know it makes sense. The tart flavor of berries is reminiscent of the acidity in the flavor of lemon, and everyone knows what lemon tastes like with seafood, so if anyone you are feeding is shy about berries with fish, explain that the berries are a substitute for lemon.

Serves 6 generously

For the Blackberry Butter Sauce:
1/2 cup blackberries
2 tablespoons blackberry flavored vinegar (or lemon juice)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
Pinch of salt
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted organic butter, cold, cut into 1-inch chunks

For the Salmon:
6 (6-ounce) filets of wild King Salmon
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons light olive oil or corn oil
1/2 pint blackberries for garnish

1.) Make the butter sauce. In a blender, purée the blackberries with the lemon juice, sugar, wine, garlic, salt, and pepper. Strain the purée into a small saucepan. Boil rapidly over high heat until the purée is reduced to 1/4 cup. Reduce heat to low and quickly stir the butter into the reduced purée a few chunks at a time. Do not let the mixture return to a boil.

2.) Grill the salmon. Wipe the grill with a cloth dipped in olive oil, or spray it with an oil mister. Position the grill 4 inches above a bed of the glowing coals and wipe it with an oily cloth. Sprinkle the filets with salt and pepper and rub with oil. Place the filets, skinned-side up onto the rack and allow them to broil for 5 minutes. If the oil ignites, cool the flames with a little water splashed from a cup or streamed from a squirt gun. With a long spatula, turn the filets once and allow them to broil for 5 minutes more.

3.) Transfer the grilled salmon to warm plates, ladle some sauce over half of each filet and tumble some berries over the fish.
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Cascade Blackberry Crisp
Organic blackberries, flour and sugar make this dessert incredibly flavorful. It’s based on the original formula for one of my all-time favorite recipes for baked-in-the-pan fruit desserts, Willie’s Crisp. “Willie” was ten years old when he developed this recipe under the supervision of Northwest culinary guru, Sharon Kramis.

Serves 6 to 8

For the Topping:
1 tablespoon organic butter, for the pan
1 cup organic flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt or ½ teaspoon table salt
1 organic egg

For the Filling:
6 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted organic butter, melted

1.) Preheat the oven to 375 and butter a 2-quart oval or an 8-inch square baking dish.

2.) Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the egg. Beat the egg with a fork and gradually incorporate it into the flour and sugar mixture.

3.) Put the berries into the baking dish and toss with the sugar and cornstarch.

4.) Crumble the topping mixture evenly over the fruit then drizzle the melted butter evenly over the top.

5.) Bake until the topping is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling up around it, about 45 minutes. Serve warm.
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Orcas Island White Chocolate Cheesecake with Blackberries
My friend Christina Orchid used to serve this cake at her eponymous Restaurant on Orcas Island; I learned to make it when my friend Kate Wisniewski left Christina’s to work with me at a place called Café Bissett on nearby San Juan Island. Even though it is dense, sweet, and almost impossibly rich, it somehow gives the illusion of lightness, especially when its served with a handful of fresh-picked blackberries piled on the plate.

Makes one 10-inch cake that serves 12 to 16 people

For the Cake:
2 cups chocolate wafer cookies, or chocolate sables, crushed
2 ounces organic butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 pounds (4 8-ounce packages) organic cream cheese
1 cup sugar
4 organic eggs plus 1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons organic flour
1 pound white chocolate, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the topping:
1 cup organic sour cream
2 tablespoons white creme de cocoa
3 tablespoons sugar
Fresh blackberries, as an accompaniment

1.) Preheat oven to 325. Combine chocolate cookie crumbs, melted butter and cinnamon. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 10-inch spring-form pan and set aside.

2.) With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth, add the eggs and the egg yolk, one at a time, mixing well between every addition. Stir in the flour, vanilla extract and melted white chocolate.

3.) Pour the batter over the cookie crumb crust and wrap the bottom of the cake pan in a piece of aluminum foil. Put the foil-wrapped pan in a larger baking pan or a roasting pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan to reach about one inch up the sides of the foil-wrapped cake pan.

4.) Bake the cake in its hot water bath until it is lightly browned and beginning to crack on top, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

5.) Combine the sour cream, creme de cocoa and sugar and pour the mixture over the hot cheesecake. Turn off the oven and return the cake to the oven. There, let the cheesecake rest for 15 minutes or so to allow the topping to set. Refrigerate the cake for several hours or overnight before attempting to slice it. Serve the cake cold with ripe blackberries on the side.
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Backyard Blackberry Jam
This straightforward formula for putting up a few jars of jam works best when the fruit is just ripe — not over-ripe — and when it’s very, very fresh. Once berries are picked, the pectin in them starts to break down. Ideally the fruit would be picked and preserved all in a matter of minutes.

Makes enough jam to fill five 8-ounce jars with a little to spare

4 cups (tightly packed) blackberries
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 cups organic sugar

1.) In a stockpot or a canning kettle, cover 5 clean, 8-ounce canning jars with boiling water. Simmer, covered over low heat to sterilize jars.

2.) In a heavy, 4-quart soup pot or Dutch oven over high heat, mash the berries with the lemon juice. When the fruit has come to a full, rolling boil, stir in the sugar. Continue stirring until mixture returns to a boil, then stop stirring and insert a candy thermometer. When the thermometer registers 220, take the pot off the heat.

3.) With tongs, lift the sterilized jars from their simmering water bath and arrange them right side up on a clean kitchen towel.

4.) Ladle the jam into the sterilized jars. Dip one corner of a clean lint-free towel into the boiling water and wipe the lips of the jars to remove any jam.

5.) Put on the lids and seal according to manufacturer’s instructions then put the jam-filled jars back in the boiling water and boil for five minutes. Allow the jam to cool in the jars undisturbed for several hours or overnight. Jam keeps in a cool dark place for at least a year.
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See also: Organic Fresh Berry Pie Recipe

Greg Atkinson is author of West Coast Cooking and lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Photo Credit: MeesterNik
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