3 Words
3 Words: Swap In Berries
When it’s just not hot enough for tomatoes, consider blackberry marinara
Here in the Pacific Northwest, berries, cherries, and even stone fruit have a much longer season than tomatoes. This took some getting used to, especially since my general rule is to favor local in-season produce. Now three summers in, I’m learning to go to sauce — and other typical tomato recipes — with the fruit we have.
Turns out blackberries make a surprisingly fresh marinara. I’d written about using them on pizza before, where they brought a strange and wonderful sweet tartness to pie. But this was the first time I’d tried them with pasta.
I started by softening chopped shallots and garlic in lots of olive oil, then tossed in a couple of pints of berries, which behaved exactly like halved cherry tomatoes or chopped heirloom slicers, only without the sometimes-sort-of-tough skins.
