- Nov 15, 2012
- 1,025
- 105
Hi Nose-To-Tailers,
I mentioned this beef heart recipe in a different post, and there seemed to be some interest in it. So I thought I'd put it in it's own post for clarity....
Grilled Marinated Beef Heart with Balsamic Butter Reduction
Makes 2-4 servings, depending on how "hearty" appetites are (har har)
1 pastured beef heart, sliced lengthwise
Marinade:
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp fresh chopped rosemary leaves
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
Balsamic Butter Reduction:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2-3 Tbsp butter, cut into pats
4 cups (lightly packed) mixed salad greens
1/4 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
Spread the heart open. Cut the heart into manageable steaks following natural divisions in the heart. Remove the fat from the top of the heart. Remove the valves, connective tissue, and silverskin from the inside of the heart to get down to clean steak meat. Remove the blood vessels and silverskin from the outside of the heart to get down to clean steak meat. To ensure that the steaks are of roughly the same thickness, just use the thicker steaks (from the ventricles) for this recipe. The thinner steaks (from the atria) can be reserved for another use such as grinding for ground beef or slicing thinly and stir-frying with onions and peppers.
So here is a beef heart trimmed of the big fat cap and big veins/arteries.
Here is the inside of the heart. I trimmed away the thinner muscled area on the lower right of this picture.
Here is the thicker muscled area of the heart cut into steaks and cleaned of all valves, connective tissue, and silverskin. It is just clean, pure muscle meat, about an inch thick.
Place the thick heart steaks in a large rectangular casserole dish. Season both sides with salt and freshly ground pepper. Mix minced garlic cloves, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, and thyme in a small bowl. Pat the marinade over the heart steaks and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours, turning occasionally.
Here is the marinade. It is basically a wet rub, but you could add more olive oil and balsamic vinegar if you wanted to have more liquid.
Preheat grill. Remove excess marinade. Grill for about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. While steaks are grilling, prepare the balsamic butter reduction. When steaks have finished grilling, let them rest while finishing the reduction.
Simmer 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar in small saucepan over medium heat until reduced by half and it reaches a syrupy consistency, about 5 minutes. Whisk in butter, one pat at a time, allowing melted butter to be fully incorporated with the balsamic reduction before adding more butter. Reduction should become glossy with the consistency of a thick syrup. Remove from heat and use immediately, as the reduction will thicken as it cools.
OK, here is 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar.
Reduce it down by half. When it starts to bubble like this, it is reduced enough. Turn the heat to the lowest setting you have ("simmer" setting works great here), or turn the heat off if you think you are burning your reduction.
Start adding in the butter, stirring well between adding pats. I add in about 1 Tbsp at a time, and use about 3 Tbsp total. You could add more butter if you want.
The reduction will become thick and glossy as you add in the butter.
Slice the steaks thinly and serve on a bed of mixed greens with balsamic butter reduction drizzled on top and sprinkled with crumbled gorgonzola cheese.
Here is the grilled heart steak.
Heart steak after resting and slicing. We prefer our heart grilled rare to medium-rare. The reason is that we think that the heart becomes more strong and "liver-y" in taste, and also tougher, as it is cooked medium to well done. When cooked rare to medium-rare it has a very mild taste and is quite tender.
The plated shot.
Thanks for looking!
Clarissa
I mentioned this beef heart recipe in a different post, and there seemed to be some interest in it. So I thought I'd put it in it's own post for clarity....
Grilled Marinated Beef Heart with Balsamic Butter Reduction
Makes 2-4 servings, depending on how "hearty" appetites are (har har)
1 pastured beef heart, sliced lengthwise
Marinade:
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp fresh chopped rosemary leaves
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
Balsamic Butter Reduction:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2-3 Tbsp butter, cut into pats
4 cups (lightly packed) mixed salad greens
1/4 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
Spread the heart open. Cut the heart into manageable steaks following natural divisions in the heart. Remove the fat from the top of the heart. Remove the valves, connective tissue, and silverskin from the inside of the heart to get down to clean steak meat. Remove the blood vessels and silverskin from the outside of the heart to get down to clean steak meat. To ensure that the steaks are of roughly the same thickness, just use the thicker steaks (from the ventricles) for this recipe. The thinner steaks (from the atria) can be reserved for another use such as grinding for ground beef or slicing thinly and stir-frying with onions and peppers.
So here is a beef heart trimmed of the big fat cap and big veins/arteries.
Here is the inside of the heart. I trimmed away the thinner muscled area on the lower right of this picture.
Here is the thicker muscled area of the heart cut into steaks and cleaned of all valves, connective tissue, and silverskin. It is just clean, pure muscle meat, about an inch thick.
Place the thick heart steaks in a large rectangular casserole dish. Season both sides with salt and freshly ground pepper. Mix minced garlic cloves, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, and thyme in a small bowl. Pat the marinade over the heart steaks and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours, turning occasionally.
Here is the marinade. It is basically a wet rub, but you could add more olive oil and balsamic vinegar if you wanted to have more liquid.
Preheat grill. Remove excess marinade. Grill for about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. While steaks are grilling, prepare the balsamic butter reduction. When steaks have finished grilling, let them rest while finishing the reduction.
Simmer 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar in small saucepan over medium heat until reduced by half and it reaches a syrupy consistency, about 5 minutes. Whisk in butter, one pat at a time, allowing melted butter to be fully incorporated with the balsamic reduction before adding more butter. Reduction should become glossy with the consistency of a thick syrup. Remove from heat and use immediately, as the reduction will thicken as it cools.
OK, here is 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar.
Reduce it down by half. When it starts to bubble like this, it is reduced enough. Turn the heat to the lowest setting you have ("simmer" setting works great here), or turn the heat off if you think you are burning your reduction.
Start adding in the butter, stirring well between adding pats. I add in about 1 Tbsp at a time, and use about 3 Tbsp total. You could add more butter if you want.
The reduction will become thick and glossy as you add in the butter.
Slice the steaks thinly and serve on a bed of mixed greens with balsamic butter reduction drizzled on top and sprinkled with crumbled gorgonzola cheese.
Here is the grilled heart steak.
Heart steak after resting and slicing. We prefer our heart grilled rare to medium-rare. The reason is that we think that the heart becomes more strong and "liver-y" in taste, and also tougher, as it is cooked medium to well done. When cooked rare to medium-rare it has a very mild taste and is quite tender.
The plated shot.
Thanks for looking!
Clarissa