Wild Black Berries

Can you think of anything more quintessential "American Summer" than sun-ripened black berries?  You just get that image of a blond 7-year old with purple juice smeared all over their mouth while smacking their lips.  If you can take that image of a blond 7-year and add 21 years you have my husband Kevin.  Every chance he gets, he is out there picking ripe black berries right off the vine and popping them in his mouth.  Pop! Pop! Pop!  (Which happens to be a very similar habit I have with cherry tomatoes.  Shush!  Don't tell anyone!)

Not only is he enjoying the blackberries, but so are the goats.  Very much like a honey badger eating a rattlesnake, the goats don't give a shit about the thorns.  They walk right through them and eat them, thorns and all!  They LOVE those leaves.  So on a nice sunny afternoon you will see both Kevin, Butters, and Oreo out there eating the blackberries.

So, to take advantage of all those black berries I went out there and picked about two cups and made some black berry sauce for a pork tenderloin. Here is a modified version of Martha Stewart recipe for Black Berry Chutney over Pork Medallions.

The black berries below are all washed and clean in my salad spinner.  If you have fresh berries, do not wash them until right before you are about to eat them.  

Cut up a couple shallots and cook them for about 8 minutes in butter until soft and golden.  Add your blackberries, cider vinegar, and small palm full of brown sugar.  

Let it cook down so it is nice, thick, and syrupy and the berries have started to collapse.

While your berries are cooking down, take your pork tenderloin and slice it into medallions.  Salt and pepper each medallion and pan fry each side so it is light pink on the inside.

When it is all cooked, pour that beautiful purple sauce over your pork and serve with a yummy salad.

Delicious!