Summer Produce-palooza: Blueberry Port Sauce

Lucky me.
I am part of a wonderful cooking group that meets once a month. Whoever hosts gets to choose the theme and the menu. In August, choosing to work with local produce is a no-brainer. Jennifer put together an excellent menu highlighting Maine's blueberries.

We started with Blueberry Mojitos.

They were served with a delicious crab salad in endive.

 It was a beautiful evening, so we were able to eat out in Jennifer's garden.

Gorgeous, isn't it?  She's a landscape designer. The next course was grilled shrimp over a salsa made of corn, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro and of course, blueberries. The berries added a nice burst of sweetness to the salsa.

My vote for the best thing all night was the blueberry-port sauce served over lamb steaks. We passed that  pitcher of sauce around many times, even when the lamb was gone.  It was so divine you could just eat it up with a spoon.

After dreaming of that sauce all week, I decided to make it last night. I served it with grilled pork tenderloin. To be honest, I'm not a big fruit-with-meat person. But for this, I can make an exception.

It would be awesome on duck too. I bet you could sub in blackberries and it would be equally fabulous. It was super easy to make. You can even use frozen berries when the good local ones are no longer available.

Blueberry-Port Wine Sauce


2 Tbsps. minced shallots

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup Port

1 cup beef broth

2 tsps. sugar

1 tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

In a medium saucepan, combine shallots, berries, Port, beef broth and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue boiling for about an hour until sauce is reduced by half.

See? It practically cooks itself!
Remove from heat and stir in rosemary and butter. Keep warm until ready to serve.