Last
summer, when I was just getting started with the first small caterings, I got
offered to take care of the catering during the shoot of a photographic session
for Lucie Bila at Certovy schody. It has been a great day: I got to meet the
famous singer (and she is absolutely a sweetheart, smiley and caring with everyone on the set), I spent the
day near Anna (my girlfriend) who was at the time 8 months pregnant but still
taking photos, I got the chance to cook in a breathtaking location, a strange
mix between a lunar crater and the Gobi desert, using a vintage AirStream
caravan as base.
The
dish which blew the crew away were grilled chicken hearts skewers with
chimichurri. The crew was very curious about the method of preparation of the
chicken hearts, so I promised myself that one of the first posts on my blog
would be about it.
I
fell in love with chicken hearts when I was a kid, and liver was still too
“raw” for me (luckily I grew over that taboo). The best description of their
taste I know of is this one by Alaina Sullivan: “Oft-neglected and
under-appreciated, they taste like little nuggets of dark chicken meat with a
slightly metallic aftertaste (c'mon, think of all the blood they pumped), and
their chewy texture is further reminder of how hard the little muscles used to
work”. The chewiness, though, needs to be tamed with a marinade, which allows
the fibers of the meat to relax and be ready for the grill, so that the result
is an external crispness and an enjoyable consistence inside. Hearts and their
"odd part" cousins (such as tongue, liver, tail, brain and other
byproducts of butchery) aren't frequently appreciated, although in Czech
Republic some chefs are doing amazing things with them (Oldrich Sahajdak, chef
of La Degustation, makes and amazing dish with the beef tongue) and the general
perception is changing.
Piercing
and grilling hearts on a stick makes them easy to enjoy in a dynamic situation
such is a photo shoot, and with a open air grill the results are
delicious. I marinated the hearts for several hours, threaded them onto
brochettes (I followed Sullivan tip to make them from whittled-down
chopsticks), then grilled them and served with a fresh and spicy chimichurri.
At home I opted for the oven grill, but the hearts would really benefit from an
open fire grill so they could take on the smoky flavor of wood or
charcoal. As soon as the spring is back I am planning to take full
advantage of the barbecue place.
Ingredients
1 qt cold
water
2 Tbsp
sea salt
1 tsp
sugar
1/2 lb
chicken hearts, visible arteries trimmed
1/2 cup
flat parsley, finely chopped
½ cup
cilantro, finely chopped
1 garlic
clove, minced
1 lemon
Olive oil
Red wine
vinegar
Dried
chilly peppers
Honey
Sea salt
Method
Method
1. Combine 1 quart cold water with 2 tablespoons
sea salt and 1 teaspoon of cane sugar. Stir until dissolved. Add chicken
hearts, squeeze half lemon juice in it, cover, and chill for 3 to 5 hours.
2. Drain chicken hearts. Thread hearts onto
presoaked wooden skewers, leaving about 1/2 inch between them, and place
between paper towels to dry.
3. Heat grill or grill pan over high. Meanwhile,
make chimichurri by combining 1/2 cup chopped parsley and cilantro with 1
minced garlic clove, 4 parts olive oil and 1 part red wine vinegar, about a
teaspoon of honey, plus crushed red chilly peppers and sea salt. (I didn't
measure, simply adjust to desired taste and consistency.)
4. When grill is hot, brush chicken hearts with
olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Place skewers over heat and cook, turning
occasionally, 3 to 5 minutes total.
Another option is to place in the pre heated oven,
on baking paper, just sprinkling with olive oil, with the “grill” mode on (200
degrees), for 10 to 12 minutes.
5. Serve with chimichurri.
TIP: Poultry is tricky nowadays, avoid at all cost chicken coming from intensive farming producers. Look for free range chicken. If you don’t know any farmer try quality butcheries which embrace that philosophy: The Real Meat Society (www.trms.cz), for instance, is one of them.
