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!