Filetto al Mirtillo

[DonRocks]

On 7/14/2016 at 3:36 PM, Laura H. said:

I ordered the  Filetto al Mirtillo-filet mignon in a blueberry reduction sauce. WOW! Do yourself a favor and order that! It was perfectly cooked medium rare per my request and the blueberry reduction was a flavorful tasty treat. There was a lot of it and I enjoyed dipping every bit of filet in it. My father ordered the same thing and had my sentiments as well.

I can honestly say I've never heard of Filetto al Mirtillo in my life. Are you sure this isn't using Myrtle Berries, which are closely related to Juniper Berries? 

[Laura H.]

It was described as a blueberry reduction sauce on the menu and it very much tasted like blueberries so I will have to defer to the restaurant that they have accurately described the sauce. I know it sounds like an unpleasing combination but this worked so well and was quite complimentary.

[DaveO]

I had to do some back research to learn that the reference was to a dish at Acqua al 2 at Eastern Market.   Further research here found other positive remarks from several years ago and research outside of DR also finds that many other diners have also enjoyed this dish at Acqia al 2.   Nice to know.  Just seeing the reference brought me back to some meals I had years ago via a wonderful cook who used a blueberry reduction over fish and meat and created a remarkable memorable set of meals.  So memorable from several decades ago.  I'd go to Acqua al 2 to just experience that again.

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A little while later---   I researched this, if only because I had a  blueberry/wine sauce over both meat and fish so long ago and the sauce was so memorable.

From what I can see so far:  Filletto al Mirtillo is a description unique to that restaurant; not anything one might find in wide usage.  Alternatively there are recipes and descriptions for a reduced blueberry/wine sauce over meat..or other items (including ice cream) across the web.  The cooking process is easy and the key seems to be to reduce a a substantial enough period of time to both enhance thickness and of course for flavor.  There are different recipes with different variations hence a great opportunity to create your own spectacular variation.

Certainly quite a number of recipes and variations:  This particular recipe comes along with an entertaining story.

[DonRocks]

13 hours ago, DaveO said:

I had to do some back research to learn that the reference was to a dish at Acqua al 2 at Eastern Market.

[This is a good time to remind people about the "Snapback Function" - if you notice the little arrow on the top-right side of quoted text (in this case, Laura H.'s quoted text in the first post), click it, and it will "snap you back" to the original post - it's an easy way to trace back every spun-off conversation to its mothership.]