Beef Heart Stew

I made this stew using a portion of the beef heart that I had purchased. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup beef heart (chopped in small cubes)
1/4 cup flour
4 beef bullion cubes
8 cups water
1 cup chopped carrots
1/4 cup frozen corn
1 cup chopped potato
1 small onion diced small
2 garlic cloves diced small
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
S&P to taste

Directions

Take the beef heart and lightly dredge in the flour. In pan on the stove, add the oil and butter and add the beef. Let brown on all sides. Add half of the water and the 4 bullion cubes, let simmer for 1 hour on low heat, (this helps tenderize the meat) Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until carrots and potatoes are fork tender.

If you prefer a thicker stew, you can add a mixture of 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water to the stew, bring to a boil and serve.

If you want to make this a little more upscale, you can replace 1/2 cup of the water with red wine.

I served this with crushed whole wheat crackers in a bottom of a bowl and poured the stew over the top, the juices trickle down and soak into the crackers. YUM!

Unlikely Foods

Okay, so I was walking through my favorite grocery store one day after work and decided that I was going to try different foods and write about them. Here is what I bought.

Beef liver
Beef Kidney
Black Pudding
Chicken Liver
Irish Bacon
Lemon Curd
Irish Toffee
Beef Heart

I have to admit that I have had Beef and Chicken Liver before and I realy like them, but I have never had Kidney before. It tasted like liver and gizzard mixed together. I will NEVER buy another kidney, but some people like it. The Black Pudding or Blood Sausage was interesting, at first I didnt know what to think, but the more I ate of it the better it got. It has an odd spice to it that I dont associate with sausage. It does not taste like blood. Irish bacon is pretty good, it reminded me of Canadian Bacon, it is not smoked like American Bacon. I cooked the Irish Bacon and added it to a homemade hamburger. MMMMMMM. The Lemon Curd was really tart but was perfect on some crackers, toast, and cookies. The Irish Toffee just tasted like candy, nothing special or different. I have yet to cook the Beef Heart but I am thinking about a stew or something. Let me know if you want me to try something new or different!

New Foods

Every now and then I go through an experimental phase where I wonder through supermarkets and specialty food markets grabbing things I have never tried. I have been doing this all week and am looking forward to blogging about it. I have a few items left that I havent tried so please check back soon...


COMING SOON!

Browning Biscuits

All the cooks and chefs on TV always tell you to brush egg, cream, butter, or something else on the top of biscuits or other pastries that you bake to get that pretty sheen. So I decided to test a few of the most common and let you know what works the best

I used 10 canned biscuits and applied the following toppings

Plain (3)
Egg(2)
Egg with water (1)
Water (1)
Egg with Cream (1)
Cream (1)
Butter (1)

Can you guess which one was the most delicious looking when it came out the of the oven?

The plain ones were golden brown but not shiny, the Egg ones were very nicely golden and shiny, Egg with water was a dull brown, water was just beginning to brown, Egg with Cream was golden brown and shiny, the one with just cream on it was dull brown, and the butter one was just beginning to brown.

There was a 2-way tie for the winner, Egg & Egg with Cream, but for practical reasons, EGG is the Winner!!!!!


Word of Caution: Items out of the oven are HOTHOTHOT!!! As I was taking these biscuits out of the oven I didn't notice that my oven mitt had a small hole in the thumb, so my thumb starting burning so instinctively grabbed the wire part of the baking stone with my other had, that burned so I slapped it and it landed on my arm. I now have a "Nike" Checked brand burned into my arm.

Almond & Apricot Cookies

These are a great little cookie and they take icing really well!

Cookie Ingredients

1 & 1/4 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Crisco
2 Eggs
1/4 Cup Corn Syrup
1 tbsp Vanilla
3 Cups Flour
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Apricot Preserves
1/2 Cup Slices Almonds

Add all of the ingredients into a stand mixer except for the almonds and apricots, mix until everything is well incorporated. Add the Almonds and Preserves and mix by hand so you don't break the almonds up. Spoon onto a GREASED baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes at 350 until lightly golden.
'
Frosting

1 tsp honey
1 tsp apricot preserves
1 tbsp hot water
2 cups powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients and decorate your cookies!


TIPS.. make sure you grease the cookie sheet because the preserves will make the cookies stick. The frosting can be thinned with more water and cookies can just be dipped if preferred. If you dont want your cookies to spread out as much when they cook, form the cookies into "balls" and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes before baking.

Sour Cream & Chive Omelet

I am in the middle of a popular low carb diet so many of my upcoming recipes will be GREAT but low carb too!

Ingredients:

3 Eggs

1 TBSP Sour Cream

1 TBSP Chopped Chives

2 TBSP Parmasean Cheese

1 TBSP Olive Oil

S&P to taste


Directions

In a bowl combine the Sour Cream, eggs, and chives in a bowl. Heat the olive oil in a pan on the stove, add the egg mixture. When the eggs begin to set up add the cheese and perform a trifold with the egg. Serve. *Garnish, I garnished mine with a small amount of sour cream and chopped chives. If you want more sour cream, add it as a filling with the cheese! Enjoy!

The Pantry in a Pinch

I wanted to make a great and people pleasing appetizer but without using ANY fresh ingredients! I made a variation on Hummus and I like, and my 2 little brothers even like it, (3 and 4 years)

Normal Hummus requires tahini, lemon juice, and fresh garlic. Below is my version and I used only items that were in the pantry. (Buy these items for your pantry and have them in the case of unexpected company.)

1 can of low sodium chickpeas (drained 15 ounces)

1/4 jar of roasted red peppers in water (drained, about 3 ounces)

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 tsp dried lemon zest

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp garlic powder

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Whole Wheat Crackers to eat it with.

This was so easy to make and tasted pretty good! Just put everything (except the crackers) in a food processer and blend until smooth. That's it! Spoon into a bowl and serve with the crackers. For added flair put a small drizzle of olive oil on top and sprinkle with chopped parsley and fresh cracked black pepper! Enjoy!

Shrimp Scampi

This is a very easy recipe and makes any person look like a 4 star chef.

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic (shaved extra thin)
1/2 stick butter
1 tablespoon parsly (chopped)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound shrimp (shell off)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Optional Lemon Wedges

Method:

Like I said, this is extremely easy. Pre heat your oven to 350. In a shallow oven proof dish arrange your shrimp so that there is a single even layer. Arrange the shaved garlic evenly over the shrimp. Cut the butter into small pieces and evenly distribute over the shrimp and garlic. Also pour the olive oil over the shrimp. Sprinkle with Salt and Pepper. Put the shrimp into the oven for 12 minutes or just until they turn pink. Take the shrimp out of the oven and sprinkle with the parsley. Let the Shrimp set in the pan for carry over cooking. Serve warm with the lemon wedges.

Pico de Gallo

This is an extremely easy recipe for a great condiment for any southwestern meal or it is great with corn chips.

Ingredients:

1 Medium Onion (I prefer red onions)

2 Large Tomatoes

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh Cilantro

1 Clove Garlic Finely minced

1/2 of a Lime (juiced)

S & P to taste

Like I said this is a real simple recipe. Finely chop the Onion, Tomatoes, and Cilantro and mix in a bowl. Add the lime juice and the garlic, add preferred amount of S&P.

*TIP* Raw garlic can be over whelming for some. To help tame it, put the garlin in a pan on the stove with 2 tablespoons olive oil. After 5 minutes take the garlic out, chop it up and add to your Pico de Gallo. Don't throw out that olive oil, use it just as you would regular olive oil to add a great yet subtle taste of garlic to other dishes!