Cooking From the Hip ~ Blueberries

There should be a law about cooking shows on TV late at night.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been wide awake at 1 a.m. watching some Food Network show that only served to make me hungry and even less tired than I was before I turned it on!

Case and point:  A couple of weeks ago I was curled up in my chair watching Guy Fieri at DMK Burger bar in Chicago (stay with me vegetarians; this will be a “vegetarianizable” recipe). Through my drooling stupor I was amazed when I watched a chef create a BBQ sauce involving blueberries.

Yes, blueberries.

I had tasted raspberry sauce before; but this was intriguing.  The sauce was used on top of a bison burger with goat cheese and sliced red onions.

I rushed to my computer to look up the recipe.  But alas, there was none.  So I did what any reasonable BBQ craving person would do at 12:45 in the morning: I watched the video about 5 times and eyeballed the ingredients and amounts!

Here is what I came up with:

Blueberry BBQ Sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup red onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, minced
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• Tabasco sauce, to taste
• 2 pints fresh blueberries (try for a 50/50 ratio of blueberries to other combined ingredients)

Heat olive oil in a saucepan.

Add onion and jalapeño, and cook over med-low heat ’til onion is soft (about 10 minutes).

Add mustard, ketchup, sugar, vinegar and a couple of dashes of Tabasco sauce.  Mix well.

Add blueberries and stir.

Cook down for about 1/2 hour and let cool.  Pour into a blender and blend till smooth.  You should end up with about 2 cups of sauce.

After my trial run was so successful, I attempted this recipe again.  This time, I split the batch in half before adding the fruit.

I added blueberries to one half ~ and raspberries, chipotle chili powder and a little more sugar to the remaining half.

The raspberry version yielded a spicier, tangier version that I spooned over a meatloaf during baking.  I served it with a little extra sauce, twice baked potatoes and garden fresh green beans for my daughter’s birthday dinner.

Other ideas for the sauce (blueberry or raspberry) include:

• BBQ veggie pizzas
• veggie quesadillas
• on sandwiches
• over cream cheese, served with crackers and fresh veggies

Guy Fieri, host of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives

Of course we tried ours on bison burger with goat cheese and it was delicious.  My whole family loves this addition to my recipe book and keeps coming up with new uses for it.

So thank you, Guy Fieri, for having a show on at midnight when I should be sleeping!

Gabrielle Howle, Domestic Chef and Baker

Gabrielle is a domestic chef and baker with 17 years experience. Her usual patrons are her husband and three children (and occasionally the dog when she is less than careful about dropping things).

She collects BareEscentuals make-up and has a penchant for bright shiny objects, be it jewelry or new kitchen knives. Her biggest downfall is a new cheesecake recipe.

In her spare time, Gabrielle enjoys making jewelry, mixing martinis, shopping and spending time at the gun range. But never all at the same time!