Thursday, February 12, 2009

Heart anyone?

I am sure you have heard of a broken heart, maybe an aching heart or a full heart? Well, how about a roasted heart? Yes, my friends that was what was on the Roitz family dinner menu last night. Roast beef heart.

For any of you who know Josh, you know he and his family have a cow ranch. When they butcher cows, they save everything. Heart, kidney, liver, stomach etc... Josh made some kidney for our friends the other night, and they are not too bad. Josh was always talking about how his grandma used to make stuffed roast heart, so I decided to give it a try. I tried to look online for some recipes and pointers, but suprisingly there weren't too many to find.

We had the heart in our freezer for a couple of weeks and I finally willed myself to take on the tast.

Before we begin, I want you to know that the cows on the Roitz ranch must be kind of lazy. They evidently don't like to walk very far or long because this cow had some serious fat buildup on his heart. That was by far the most time consuming part was cutting off all of the fat.

Observe





So after the fat is all trimmed off you have to cut it open and remove all the little arteries and membranes. It brought back flashes of A&P from college.



The next step is to prepare a stuffing, stuff the heart and roll it back up and secure. I then seared it in a pan. I do have to say it looked like a pretty piece of meat then.



Then you throw it in the crocker for the rest of the afternoon with some veggies and onion soup mix. And you come out with a little roast of heart. Sorry to dissapoint, but everyone (Josh and his dad) were soo excited to eat it I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. It really just looked like a little beef roast.

I made some mashed potatoes and gravy and we had some corn and peas. It was a nice country dinner.

*Okay, I had some of the heart, and it was good... It tasted like a roast beef, but the texture was a little denser and chewier(sp). I personally would rather just have a regular old roast, but it was a lot better than I expected. I will be making it again, because Josh loves it.*

Maybe some day ya'll could give it a try!

9 comments:

Shane and Beth said...

Seriously, how was it? I have had heart up here before (prepared totally different) and didn't care much for it. It left a weird film on the roof of my mouth. I am not really one that likes all of the "extras" from the beef, we usually pass those up:) It really didn't look too bad though, looks like you did a great job!! I am so sorry I forgot to pay you for my -you know what:)- I will get the $ to you asap!

Bree said...

Ummmmmmmm speechless. You are a much better wife than I. Never in a million would I do that. Good Job!

The Shields Family said...

So how did it taste?? Looks like it tasted good but I am not big on eating left-overs! I guess you are more of a country girl than me!!

Holly said...

Wow. Was it good? It actually doesn't look too bad. It was so good to talk to you today!

allison said...

Um, I totally could not do that. Funny though, the science teacher next door to me was having his science class dissect some fresh beef hearts, I should have taken them home and roasted them when they were done! You are a brave soul, my dear. I commend you.

Kristie Taylor said...

wow, that looks so interesting ;) I myself have made a couple of creations with heart.... its really fun:)

Emily said...

Ok, I could totally eat that because I actually like all of the weird organs and things. But, I don't think that I could have cut it all up. That would completely gross me out!!! Kudos to you!

Anne said...

You know what? I ate some heart at Josh's house in high school. I can't really remember what it tastes like. I just remember that they had heart for dinner and Josh made me try it. You are a good wife Alayna and a good cook!

Emily said...

Um, about the flying thing. I think that I personally get more sick flying than driving. But, for little Eliza? I think that Anya got sick because it was the first time we had her in a front facing car seat and buses are a lot more bumpy than cars. I also think that being able to see out the window played a factor, and the fact that she was scrunched into such a small space. So, I don't really know. I think that if I had the extra money I would probably fly just for convience sake. That is a long time to have a baby in a car seat and I am sure you will hear about it from Eliza!!! Good Luck!