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My husband and I spent part of a weekend in Boston recently. After scheduling a day of work meetings in the city, we decided to make it into a combination work/pleasure trip by spending the night and next day nibbling and adventuring through Boston. After a round of post-work drinks at Dillon’s, we headed over to Newbury Street for dinner at Tapeo. We had been there previously for an afternoon snack and drink and were looking forward to a meal of tapas dishes. Although the atmosphere was mediocre, the food was excellent. One of our favorite dishes was Pato Braseado, duck breast in blackberry sauce.
I decided to use this dish as inspiration for our Tapas Monday last week. Although duck breast isn’t easy to find, I was fairly certain that a cut of beef would make a fine replacement. Since our blackberry bushes didn’t recover from last year’s Halloween snowstorm, I decided to use some blueberries, which currently are in season.
As I used a steak that was relatively thin for this dish, I didn’t feel the need to braise it for hours. However, I am certain that this dish could be converted to a slow-cooked dish quite easily. Replace the longer sauté time with a quick sear, and allow the meat to braise on a low heat on the stovetop or in the oven for several hours. The results should be a tender, flavorful dish.
- 1-1/2 cups cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1-1/2 cups blueberries
- 3/4 lb. strip steak
- Combine vinegar and sugar in a small pot over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Transfer to blender and add blueberries.
- Purée until smooth. (If you prefer not to have seeds, you can pour sauce through cheesecloth before next step. I prefer to leave the seeds for texture.)
- Place steak and half of blueberry sauce in a resealable bag or covered container.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Store remaining blueberry sauce in a covered container and refrigerate for later use.
- Heat a grill pan over medium heat.
- Place steak on grill pan, and discard marinating liquid. Cook for 4 minutes on each side.
- Transfer steak to a small to medium sized pot and pour remaining blueberry sauce over it.
- Cover with a lid, and simmer on lowest heat for 1 hour.
- To thicken the sauce, you may want to remove the lid for the last 15 minutes of cooking.
