Salmon with Blackberry Chimichurri--Cathy

Is there anything better than blackberry season?  When I was little, we lived on the island of Kauai, in Hawaii.  We would make excursions up to the mountains during blackberry season armed with long-sleeved shirts and long pants and lots of buckets to go pick as many blackberries as we possibly could. My mom would make jam, and legendary cobbler, and freeze a bunch so we could savor them for a long, long time.

But my very favorite way to eat it was in a bowl with milk and a spoonful of the sparkly raw sugar that sat in a burlap sack in the corner that my Uncle Masayuki would bring us from the sugar factory.  If you carefully squish just a few of the berries against the side of your bowl, it colors and flavors the milk just right and it's oh, so good! Best if eaten while buried in a really good book from the library--like "Flight to the Mushroom Planet", or "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler",  sitting at the old Formica table in the kitchen...

This fabulous recipe was discovered while on a visit to Portland to see Caity and Brendan.  Caity and I found this beautiful Chimichurri recipe in Portland Monthly magazine.  The recipe comes from Ox restaurant--a to-die-for place in Portland (which is saying a lot in that city!).  It is originally meant for beef short ribs, but we had to feed a crowd that night with not much time, so we decided to try it with salmon and absolutely love it that way. 

The salmon is just very simply grilled, and the Chimichurri is so easy and so gorgeous!  You can make it ahead up to two days and really requires very little effort. Give it a try before blackberry season is over.  

One year ago: Summer Squash with Browned Butter and Thyme 
Two years ago: Barley Greek Salad 
Three years ago: Corn Risotto Dip 

what you will need:

For the Chimichurri:

1/2 cup finely minced yellow onion

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano

2 pints fresh blackberries, sliced in half

1/2 tsp. chile flakes

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. (Chimichurri will keep for two days in the refrigerator.)  That's it!

For the Salmon:

2 lbs. side of salmon or fillets, steaks--whatever you like

olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat grill or broiler.  Put salmon on a piece of foil or a soaked grilling board, if using.  Rub flesh side with oil, then salt and pepper to taste.  Grill until just barely done.  Remove from heat and place on a platter.  Pour Blackberry Chimichurri over, to taste, serving extra on the side.  

Serves 6.

One year ago: Summer Squash with Browned Butter and Thyme 
Two years ago: Barley Greek Salad 
Three years ago: Corn Risotto Dip