Cheever Sauce

My timing is the worst because this would have been a great post for Valentine’s Day. Something about this meal felt incredibly romantic. Is red meat still considered an aphrodisiac?  The sweet blueberry sauce was also giving off its own intoxicating, amorous aroma. Everything in this dish came together beautifully, so despite the Super Super Easy tag, it was still Super Super Special. 

 I totally stole the idea for this dish from the steak meal of all steak meals in Italy…a dish I didn’t even eat firsthand, which can be found at Aqua Al 2 in Florence. As a food blogger it’s pretty embarrassing to admit I have never been to Italy. And I realize going abroad to Florence is like a right of passage for most girls raised in Connecticut, but in college I had shit to do, which didn’t include going abroad. I’ll make up for it when CheeverSauce goes international and I’m cooking pizza out of my own Tuscan wood burning stove. 

 Nevertheless, I heard this steak was pretty amazing, and a highlight of everyone I know who’s made the trip to Florence,  so it’s been on my list of food to cook on my own as the concept sounded easy enough to guess and replicate. Turns out, it was even easier to replicate then planned. The whole thing came together with minimal ingredients in 15 minutes, and I sided it with a raw kale and blue cheese salad because…well…nothing beats the combination of blue cheese and red meat. 

Onwards to the recipe:

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!