Pickled Balsamic Blueberry Sauce

My BFF (since 4th grade) lives in a charmingly small Washington-state town in the shadow of Mt. Rainier. Her circa-1920s farm house is populated with every imaginable nut and fruit tree – chestnuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, apples, cherry plums, pears, and bay. Wild blackberries, raspberries, huckleberries, a summer garden, as well as a menagerie of animals (rabbits, chickens, birds, goats, cats) complete the picture.
 
The pièce de résistance is the blueberry orchard (see last photo below), with blueberries as large as grapes that, dare I say, truly taste “blue.” We recently reconnected, and I of course took the opportunity to bring home a good supply of the prize blueberries and put them to good use.
 
This sauce is the perfect compliment to pork chops, wild salmon, chicken and steak. Personally, I don’t like cloyingly sweet fruit combined with meat, but this is different as the balsamic and red wine vinegar give it just the right amount of acid to counter the richness of the protein.

By the way, this is peak salmon season in Washington and the recipe is as Pacific Northwest as they come.
 
Number of servings: 4-6
 
Ingredients

• 2 cups blueberries 
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds or juniper berries (not both, just pick one or none, this ingredient is purely optional)
• ½ cup sugar 
• ½ cup red wine vinegar
• ½ cup (good) balsamic vinegar
• 1 stem thyme
• 1 large shallot, finely minced
• Salt

 
 Directions

1. Place blueberries in a shallow bowl.
2. Heat the mustard seeds or juniper berries (if using), ½ cup sugar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar and 1 stem thyme in small saucepan for 3 minutes and stir until sugar dissolves. NOTE: turn your stove fan on and do not stick your face over the pan to take a whiff…the vinegar will knock you over.
3. Add minced shallots and a sprinkle of salt (to taste) and simmer 2 minutes. 
4. Strain the sauce directly over the blueberries and let sit for 15 minutes.