Peruvian Heart Kebabs

Well, the world has changed since I last posted - so much is different in the space of a week. I went grocery shopping for the first time in a week and a half on Tuesday, and was able to get much of what I was looking for. I was hoping to get chicken liver because I really like liver, and because it is so nutritionally great, and cheap, but there was none to be had. Most of the meat was cleared out, but there was some beef heart, which I decided to get in lieu of the liver. Some posts online seemed to suggest that beef heart has a gamey flavor; I did not find that at all. I thought it was mild, not dissimilar from beef, but a different texture. This recipe from Odd Bits was quite good, and required things I had (unlike the Moroccan style Braised Heart recipe that looked delicious and included ingredients I did not). Well, mostly things I had. I improvised the recipe some, though am typing it below in it's original form.

I did not have any kebab skewers, and after checking all of my kitchen drawers and the garage for metal objects I might use instead, I decided to put all of the heart pieces on a metal rack. I felt excited to use my wood stove as a grill, something I used to do regularly at the Northside homestead, but have not tried yet in my own stove. It worked great - the metal rack was just right, if a little fussy to turn all of the meat pieces over. This would have been delicious with chimichurri sauce, which I thought I had in the freezer from last summer, but I must have eaten. Alas. It was still good without.

Peruvian Heart Kebabs
1 lb trimmed beef heart
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
2 serrano chiles, stems removed
1 clove garlic, germ removed
3 T red wine vinegar
1 T olive oil

1) Cut the hearts into 3/4" cubes and place in a bowl.
2) Toast the cumin seed in a small frying pan until fragrant, about 1 min. Place in a grinder with the sea salt and peppercorns, and grind. Add the chiles and garlic and grind again, then transfer the mixture to a small bowl and whisk in the vinegar and olive oil.
3) Pour the mixture over the heart pieces in the bowl and toss to coat, then cover and refrigerate 24 hours.
4) Preheat the grill to high. Thread the heart pieces onto 8-10 wooden or metal skewers and grill over high heat for about 4 minutes total, turning once.