Barbecued Beef Heart Kabobs

I absolutely love heart.  It has a rich, steak-like flavor, and can substitute for muscle meat in many recipes while substantially boosting the nutritional content (sometimes when I have more heart meat than I need for a particular recipe, I grind up the leftovers and add it to taco meat or meatballs).  It is very lean, except for the fat around it, and can be a bit tough.  It’s best cooked rare or cooked for an extended period of time like in my Offal Stew.  For this recipe, cut the heart into 1” cubes, discarding any silverskin or large vessels you encounter.  You’ll see some recipes out there that direct you to cut off the fat around the heart, but if you’re buying grass-fed, don’t bother (unless you plan on rendering it for tallow).  I think the fat is tasty, so I always leave it on.  Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1 beef heart (about 3 lbs), trimmed and cut into 1” cubes
• 1 Tbsp Ground Coriander Seed
• 1 Tbsp, finely chopped fresh thyme (or use about ½ Tbsp Dried Whole Leaf Thyme)
• 2 Tbsp, finely chopped fresh rosemary (or use about 1 Tbsp Dried Whole Leaf Rosemary)
• ½ Bottle Dry Red Wine (about 1 ½ cups; I used Trader Joe’s Two Buck Chuck)

1.    Combine cubed beef heart, coriander, thyme and rosemary in a bowl or other container.  Pour enough red wine overtop to cover the meat.
2.    Cover meat and marinade overnight (and up to 24 hours) in the refrigerator.  Give the meat a bit of a stir every few hours or so, just to make sure the meat is marinating evenly (but don’t do anything crazy like get up in the middle of the night for stir the meat).
3.    Thread the meat on bamboo or reusable metal skewers (remember to soak bamboo skewers before using), keeping about ½” space between each piece.
4.    Place skewers on a very hot barbecue for 3-4 minutes on the first side.  Flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes on the second side (the idea is to get a great sear on the outside but only cook to rare to medium-rare).  Alternately, you could cook these on an indoor grill or in a cast iron grill pan.
5.    Let the meat rest 5-10 minutes before eating (cover with tin foil to keep warm).  Enjoy!