Offal (But Not Awful) Stew

You know that eating organ meat is good for you.  But it can be a challenge to make some organ meat palatable.  This stew is manages to incorporate meat from three different organs (heart, liver and kidney) into a delicious and very rich stew.  The combination of the rich heart meat (which has a very steak-like flavor), the large amount of red wine, and the long cooking time ends up yielding a very familiar stew flavor.  So if you aren’t a big fan of liver or kidneys but want to incorporate them into your diet because you know just how good for you they are, this is the recipe to try!  Feel free to mix up what organ meats you use, but I do suggest using at least a third heart meat because it’s flavor is so important in the final product.  Because this stew is also packed with healthy veggies, I am pretty sure that it is the healthiest meal I make!  One more note:  this recipe filled my largest stock pot to within one inch of the top.  It was great because I had enough for leftovers and a few meals in the freezer (it freezes and reheats wonderfully, by the way).  You might want to half the recipe if you don’t have a really big pot or freezer space.  Serves 12.

Ingredients:

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• 8 lbs organ meat (I used 4 lbs grass-fed beef heart, 2 lbs grass-fed beef kidney, and 2 lbs pastured pork liver).
• 4 medium yellow onions
• 1 head garlic
• 3 Bay Leaves
• 1 large sprig rosemary (or about 1-1½ Tbsp Dried Whole Leaf Rosemary)
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme (or about 1-2 tsp Dried Whole Leaf Thyme)
• 3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 6 carrots (about 1 pound)
• 6 stalks celery
• 1 small head cauliflower
• 6 cups chopped kale (about 1 small bunch)
• 1 ½ lbs mushrooms (I used Baby Bella)
• 6 cups bone broth (I used chicken, but beef broth would be even better)
• 1 bottle dry red wine (I used Trader Joe’s Two-Buck Chuck)
• 5-6 Tbsp cooking fat (I used tallow, but coconut oil would be fine)

1.    Cut organ meat into small 1” cubes.  Set aside.  When cutting heart meat, leave fat attached, but remove and discard any large vessels and silverskin (Silverskin is connective tissue, quite thin, slightly translucent and slightly silver in color.  You can usually get it started with a knife and then peel it off with your fingers.).
2.    Chop vegetables:  Peel and roughly chop garlic.  Cut onions in half, then slice ¼” thick (or slightly thicker) semicircles.  Slice ½” thick rounds of carrots.  Chop celery into ½” thick slices. Cut cauliflower into quite small flowerets.  Cut the mushrooms into quarters. Remove tough stems from kale and tear or roughly chop.
3.    Make a bouquet garnis of the rosemary and thyme by simple holding the sprigs together in a bunch and tying some butcher twine around them (this helps remove the tough stems easily at the end, but it’s not a big deal if you skip this step).
4.    Preheat oven to 300F.  Make sure the oven rack is in the lowest position so you have room for your big pot!
5.    Now for browning the meat (this makes a big different to the flavor, so even though it’s tempting, don’t skip this step):  Heat 2 Tbsp cooking fat over medium-high heat in your stock pot.  Add about one quarter of the meat at a time.  Stirring fairy frequently until meat has browned on all sides.  Remove meat from pot (place in a large bowl so you don’t lose any juices), add a little more fat if needed, and brown the next batch.
6.    Once all the meat has browned and been removed from the pot, add the onions, celery, carrots and garlic (add a little more cooking fat if needed).  Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are fairly soft and slightly translucent.
7.    Add the meat and any juices back to the pot.  Add the mushrooms, cauliflower, kale, and herbs.  Stir to evenly distribute.
8.    Add the broth and wine to the pot.  Bring to a boil on the stove top over medium-high heat.  Cover and place pot in the oven.
9.    Bake in the oven for 4-5 hours.  Enjoy!