Audrey here - I wanted to share some inspiration behind our locally available Winter Dinner Kit. Since taking the leap and becoming organic blueberry farmers, the Heirloom Pickled Blueberries have quickly become one of our favorite products. My brother has taken to putting them in his morning yogurt and I've been putting them on salads, soups, grain bowls and bowls of ice cream 🙊

The pickled blueberries are also the perfect compliment to the salmon in this kit we've put together. The fishing industry is what brought Emma's family to Bellingham in the first place. Emma's dad, Warren, ran a fishing company for 10 years with his dad and has continued to maintain his relationships with his friends still in industry. Ezra and Emma served a delicious salmon dinner at their backyard wedding in 2015 with fish sourced from Warren's contacts. For the salmon in the dinner kit, we had the opportunity to work with one of Warren's friends and former colleagues, Glen, who now runs a local small business, Q Sea in Bellingham.

Warren with the fish & Juniper, the Ranz family golden retriever, supervising (photo credit: This is Feeling)

From Glen & Warren, we were able to learn a little more about how salmon is caught and processed and which species are best for different cooking methods - hence picking out the Wild Alaskan Coho to share with you in our new dinner kit. The fish is troll-caught which is one of the most sustainable methods as it eliminates bycatch and preserves to quality of the fish once caught.

I made our Salmon with Pickled Blueberries & Creme Fraiche this week to try it with my favorite in-season sides. We made up a recipe card that comes with the kit so you can put this meal into your rotation. This lovely recipe highlights the best of PNW bounty, sustainable & delicious salmon with the uniquely preserved taste of summer - heirloom pickled blueberries. The kit comes with everything you need except for basics like the onion, salt, pepper & oil, so it's easy for you to throw together for a special occasion or, l would venture to say in this season, to celebrate the small things. Bring out the fancy dishware on a Tuesday just because!

I learned to cook from my mom and Grandma Audrey. I can hear my grandma's voice saying that "if a meal is colorful, it has to be good for you." Well this recipe does have lots of color, a nice contrast to all the snow outside our doors right now. "ROY G BIV up in yo plate!" as grandma used to say. My husband Andrew, much like my grandpa, was a "meat & potatoes" guy before we met, but I've slowly introduced more veggies & greens. I'm a huge chard fan and I think I was able to bring along Andrew, begrudgingly, into the chard club with this recipe. I'm still trying to get him into the mushroom club, with little success, but I'll keep you posted.

I chose wild rice for extra nuttiness but you could go with any starch you like, white or brown Basmati rice, orzo, mashed potatoes, sweet potato roasted or in fry form would all go well. I also substituted shallots for the red onion in the recipe for a milder onion flavor but I've made the recipe as written with red onion and it's equally delicious.

My secret to the chard is simple, just like mama taught me, I de-stem the leaves and chop up the stems to start sauteing first on medium-low heat (I use 2-3 tablespoons of butter). I roughly chop the leaves and throw them in with the stems. After combining, I'll add a couple of splashes of white wine, salt & pepper. The last step is to turn down the heat to low and put on the lid to steam the chard for about 10 minutes, stirring around occasionally.

I think what I like most about this recipe is it's simplicity and quality ingredients. If you pre-order a dinner kit to pick up at the farm store or at the Ballard Market, I would love to know how you served it and who you shared it with.

Hygge & Blueberries,

Audrey