Cheever Sauce

Brussel Sprouts have a bad rap in my opinion. They tend to stick out as one of those dreaded vegetables you hid under your napkin or fed to your dog as a kid…right next to the broccoli. I can’t pinpoint when exactly my relationship changed with them, but it’s safe to say that New York City restaurants, with their unwavering ability to offer delicious side dishes played an important role. It feels like one day (or at least as of 4 years ago) this once discarded vegetable came in vogue, and all of the sudden brussel sprouts with lemon and pancetta, brussel sprouts with bacon and shallots, brussel sprouts with garlic and parmesan, were offered on the menus of every restaurant north of China Town. I do love my side dishes so I was on board,  I didn’t even care if they were charging me $10 for fancy miniature cabbages on top of my already $35 meal. I was hooked. 

The best of the best (in my opinion) are served at Tartine, and since the restaurant is conveniently located down the street, I found myself falling into an addictive trap. So I decided to whip up my own batch that was heavily inspired by my West Village favorite, and the results were nothing short of perfection. 

Now brussel spouts are delicious just tossed with olive oil, some salt and pepper, and then roasted in the oven until tender, but a tiny bit more effort and a little more ingredients can give you some amazing results. I made these at our Thanksgiving dinner, and nothing is more satisfying for a food blogger than people “Oooh”ing and “Ahhh”ing what you brought to the table. Did you just make a yummy noise? 

The recipe is super easy and very CheeverSauce friendly since it’s the perfect dish for my no measuring philosophy. The sweetness of the dried cranberries offsets the bitterness from the spouts and the almonds offer a nice texture and crunch to the dish. Cooking them in white wine adds a punch of flavor that pulls together all of the ingredients perfectly.

Onto the recipe!

I’m starting to realize that the more time a dish takes me to make, the longer I take to post about it. It’s like my subconscious can’t handle writing and editing photos around something I already dedicated my night to cooking (and cleaning - the worse) up. Makes you just want to whip this one right up right?! I know, it’s out of character to talk about such things. CheeverSauce is all about the quick! easy! healthy! snap your fingers and your already eating! type meals. Well, everyone has to crawl out of their shell once in a while, which is exactly what I chose to do for this dish. Was it all worth it? Abso-maldita-luty. 

Awhile back, my sister came home with pork shoulder leftovers from a dinner party hosted by her friend Courtney. Pork shoulder? Bleeghh I thought….until I tasted it. It was the most delicious, melt in your mouth, sweet and tender meat I have ever tasted. Since that day I never felt like I could call myself a good cook until I prepared something of that caliber. So last week I invited the photographer I rep and his wife over for dinner, and decided what better way to wow their Mexican food loving palettes, and show off my culinary skills, than prepare homemade carnitas?

Like I mentioned/complained before, the recipe takes some time only in that the meat has to be cooked for about 3 hours. Overall though, the process is pretty easy and straightforward, and once it’s in the oven you don’t really need to attend to it (I know this sounds ridiculous for busy New Yorkers, but I was cooking for my boss! And it’sSO GOOD. Make it on a rainy weekend day when you’re stuck inside). I also made fresh homemade corn tortillas which is a lot easier than it sounds. They’re healthier than flour or store bought tortillas, but you can totally skip that step and buy them pre-made.

I cannot recommend this meal enough. If you love Mexican food and like to indulge here and there on a rich flavor meat…pulled pork tacos is the dish for you. 

Onward for the recipe:

The Cheever family took over Drakes Island this weekend - and I say take over because Grandpa Cheever (who lives on Drakes Island in Wells, Maine) currently has: 5 children, 5 daughter/son in-laws, 24 grandchildren, 8 grandchildren in-laws (not sure how else to put it?), 11 great-grandchildren, 1 future grandchild in-law, 2 possible grandchildren in-laws (wink, wink) and two more great grandchildren on the way. So it’s safe to say that when the Cheever family is there, the rest of the island knows it.

We all grew up with summers visiting Grammy and Grandpa on Drakes Island, and even though over the years we have traded sandcastles for beach Bocce (booze included) and cartoons for late night poker games (even more booze included), one tradition that will always last is our Maine lobster dinners. I enjoyed my lobster the good ole’ Cheever way this weekend, but today I whipped up the lobster roll below with a few ingredients I thought would be delicious. The result? So amazing I am convinced I need to set up a West Village lobster roll stand for the rest of the summer. 

So spoil yourself tonight - Maine style- with either of these dishes, because while lobster may not be practical and certainly isn’t cheap (in the mid 19th century, it somehow finagled its way from the plates of peasants and fisherman to the fine china of Boston and New York elite), it is definitely and always will be…delicious. 

To prepare:

Well who knew? It’s only my second post and we already have a Cheever Sauce original! This wasn’t intentional, but rather the result of me mistaking a “Santa Fe Grilled Chicken” recipe for “Santa Fe Chicken Salad.” Only when it came time to reading the recipe I realized I was supposed to be marinating the meat and then topping it with a Santa Fe Salsa after grilling it.

Well Jess and I already had our hearts set on chicken salad, and since I already bought all the ingredients the original recipe called for, I shrugged my shoulders and decided it was time for some experimenting.

I nixed the tomato the original recipe called for (because ew - tomatoes don’t belong in chicken salad) and looked at what I had left: jalapeño, red onion, cilantro, and lime juice. I knew I was going to add Miracle Whip (and if you hate Miracle Whip you can just leave this blog now) because I thought its sweet/tangy flavor would balance the jalapeño nicely, but it still sounded too bland. In the end, I decided lemon and cumin would add the necessary kick and voila - my very own Southwest Chicken Salad! 

To make: