Ode to My Hubby – Fileno al Mirtillo

My hubby’s 28^th birthday was yesterday, so I decided to write a post dedicated to him!

(Florence = our home for 6 months and the place where we would become engaged 4 years later!)

My hubby and I met in Florence, Italy while studying abroad.  My friends were convinced that I would meet an Italian man, fall in love, and never return to the States again.  Well, I did meet an Italian (American) man and did fall in love, but did end up returning to the States.  Meeting someone in Italy was a surreal experience and we have so many memories of so many incredible places that we traveled to.

(Hiking through Cinque Terra)Ios, Greece (We look so young – we were only 21 here!)

(Paris!)

Because my hubby loves steak and because he missed out on eating fillet mignon with blueberry sauce (Fileno al Mirtillo) at one of the best restaurants in Florence (Acqua al Due), I decided to recreate this dish for his birthday.  The first time I had this dish, it was amazing to say the least.  The flavors were so unique and the meat was so tender.  I’m not sure how Acqua al Due cooks their steak, but I pan-seared mine since this is how we generally like to eat steak.  I also made some awesome sides that I’ll be posting soon.

In other news, I decided to take on Rosy & Tart’s 10 with 5 Challenge.  They’ve challenged fellow food bloggers to create 10 dishes using only 5 ingredients (salt and pepper excluded thankfully) in 1 month.  I thought this would be a fun challenge for me to take on since very few of my recipes have 5 ingredients or less.  But let’s face it, we’re all super busy and lead hectic lives so why shouldn’t we create simple, but delicious dishes with as few ingredients as possible?  Well, this blueberry sauce is my first 5-or-less recipe of the challenge.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp yellow onion (or shallots), finely diced
• 2 tbsp fresh sage, finely diced
• 2 fillet mignons
• 2 tbsp olive oil (since this is to coat the pan and not added to the recipe, it doesn’t count as an ingredient)
• salt & pepper, to season

Directions:

1. Season the steaks on both sides with salt and fresh ground pepper.
2. Heat heavy large skillet over high heat. Add steaks to hot dry skillet and cook about 4 minutes per side for medium. Transfer to a platter and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.
3. Meanwhile, add the oil to another saute pan and heat over medium-high.
4. Add onions and saute for 1 minute.
5. Add blueberries and saute for 2 minutes.
6. Add balsamic vinegar and bring to a boil.  Cook for 3 minutes.
7. Add the fresh sage and simmer for 5 more minutes on low.
8. Unwrap steaks from aluminum foil and spoon blueberry sauce while still hot.  Serve immediately.

*Yield: 2 fillet mignons

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