Blue, blue, blueberries
While you are celebrating the beginning of a new school year and sadly bidding farewell to the summer, don’t forget that the blueberries have arrived.
We can buy them year-round from other places but ours are the best and they have been waiting for Labor Day weekend to make their sweet début.
Blueberry Corn Salad with Lime Dressing
Although they have a unique flavor it is not as bold as strawberries or as tart as bakeapples. This salad is an opportunity to make the most of blueberries in a tasty and versatile ensemble cast.
Corn is as delicious but similarly not aggressive. Combine the two with some heat and sparkle and you have a fantastic salad.
This is elegant enough for a dinner party first course or is perfect next to a grilled chicken breast or a pork chop at a casual late summer barbecue.
Corn on the cob is not at its best now but it is excellent in this dish and a decent price besides. Boil it in salted water until tender—timing depends on how old it is but a few minutes is plenty because you don’t want a mushy texture. Grilled corn is great, as well. Use thawed frozen corn if you wish but canned is really not the best choice.
I came across some fresh Fresno chilies in the grocery store the other day and they had the perfect heat level and fruity taste for this salad but use any peppers that you enjoy. If you don’t care for the heat leave them out, of course.
You may notice there is nothing sweet added to the dressing, making it quite tart, but the ingredients in the salad have plenty of natural sugar and the tartness is welcome.
Spoon this onto a bed of lettuce, cucumbers, avocado slices or all three for a dramatic presentation. Rolled into a flour tortilla with a little crumbled feta and leftover cooked chicken is a whole different story.
If you hold back the cilantro until just before serving this salad keeps perfectly for a couple of days in the fridge.
This amount serves about four.
Lime Dressing:
3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp. each salt and freshly ground black pepper
Salad:
2 cups fresh blueberries
1-1/2 cups corn kernels
1 small red pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh pineapple
Blueberry Corn Salad with Lime Dressing
2 green onions, green and white parts, thinly sliced
1 or 2 fresh chilies, any variety you like, seeded and thinly sliced
2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
¼ cup sliced almonds
Whisk together olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper and refrigerate
until ready to use. Combine blueberries, corn, red pepper, pineapple, green onions and chilies. Just before serving stir in cilantro and lime dressing. Sprinkle almonds on top.
Blueberry Crisp
This dessert evokes fall for me like no other. It is warm and comforting with familiar flavors that never disappoint.
I can’t remember my mother ever adding fresh lemon to blueberries, although that little plastic lemon bulb made an occasional appearance. While all variations were delicious fresh lemon is by far the best choice, and easier to come by these days.
Only real butter works here, and it is worth the trip to the store for large-cut oats if you don’t have them on hand.
Cinnamon is the most common spice for a crisp but I’m saying it’s optional because it does slightly mask the taste of the blueberries. Nutmeg, however, is absolutely critical. I’ve occasionally added cardamom but as the years pass the more I appreciate the simpler flavors.
This recipe serves four with a taste left for cook’s breakfast the next morning.
6 cups blueberries (Do not thaw if using frozen.)
1/4 cup each firmly packed brown sugar and granulated sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice
This is elegant enough for a dinner party first course or is perfect next to a grilled chicken breast or a pork chop at a casual late summer barbecue.
Topping: 1 cup flour 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup old-fashioned large-cut rolled oats
1 tsp. cinnamon, optional
1/2 tsp. nutmeg (freshly ground if possible)
¼ tsp. salt
1/2 cup cool unsalted butter, slightly softened (if using salted butter eliminate salt)
Mix blueberries with brown sugar, granulated sugar and lemon juice and pour into a greased deep-sided 9-inch square baking dish. Combine flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, rolled oats, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
Rub butter into oat mixture until it looks like coarse crumbs—a few chunky bits of butter will be fine. Spread evenly over blueberries and bake at 350 degrees F 30 minutes or until berries are bubbling up around the edges and topping is golden brown and crisp. Allow to rest for 15 minutes or so before serving.