One of Mina's Favorite Dinners:

I was talking with Mina the other day and asked her which of the meals I had cooked for her over the last 5 years or so she had the best memories of. Pretty quickly she came up with this one, a steak or london broil with cranberry-bourbon sauce and feta cheese. My recollection was that the recipe originally came from foodnetwork.com, but when I looked I couldn't find it. Anyway, it's a pretty simple dish that combines some simple flavors but, as Mina put it, in a completely unexpected way.

For the sauce, take a handful of dried cranberries and cover them with bourbon. Let these sit for 30 minutes or so. In the meantime, thinly slice a couple of cloves of garlic, and put a fine dice on half of a small onion. You'll also need some demi-glace sauce, though I didn't have any, so I mixed together a little ketchup, worcestershire sauce, and beef stock and let this reduce until thick.

Cook your steak or london broil to the desired doneness. While the steak is on, saute your garlic and onions and, off the heat, add the cranberries and bourbon. Light this on fire to burn off the alcohol and when the flames have died down add your demi-glace. Let the sauce reduce then until it's nice and thick and bubbly.

To serve, just spoon the sauce over the steak, cruble some feta cheese on top, and garnish with a few torn basil leaves (thyme works as well). We had some pan roasted potatoes that were finished with some sea salt from the Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, and a salad. A fruity zinfandel or pinot noir would be my red wine of choice with this dish.