NOTES:
This was a lot of chopping due to my pickiness. I'm actually glad it made twice as much as I anticipated, since the time I invested (4.5 hrs!) was worth making 6-weeks' worth of stew, but not less! I froze about 7/8 of this, in individual containers. Next time, I'll either add another kidney, so the offal is in the proportion of a whole animal; or I'll use only 1/2 the heart. I'm inclined toward the former, since this is pretty time intensive---but well worth it!
Also, as usual for my recipes, this is intentionally designed to be a delectable, high-fat, and high-quality-of-fat recipe. Use the best ingredients that you can afford. You can adjust the fat, of course, although as written, I found the stew too lean, and had to add a tablespoon of butter on top of my bowl---then it was perfect!
Ingredients:
1 beef kidney
1 beef heart with its fat (this was about 4 lbs total, a big one!)
1-1.5 lbs mushrooms
1 whole onion
1 bunch garlic
1 large carrot
1 large red pepper
3 stalks celery, with whatever leaves they have
5 (or more) slices very fatty bacon
8 oz unsalted butter (could use salted if you like; adjust salt below)
1+ T rosemary, dried (substitute fresh if you want; I don't know how much)
1+ T thyme, dried (same)
1+ T ground black pepper
1 scant T salt (this turned out to be way too little for me, but better safe than sorry)
2 large bay leaves, torn
2 large tomatoes (I used heirlooms because they're so funky looking, I can't resist them)
125 mL red wine (1 of those small bottles---the whole thing, hehe; I used a shiraz)
1 T worcestershire
2/3 cup beef broth gelatinized; probably equivalent to 1 quart beef broth??
Directions:
- Soak kidney (whole) in well-salted water for 2 hours. Then lightly simmer it in vinegared water for 30 minutes. Then remove it and let it cool at least long enough to handle.
- Chop the mushrooms as finely as you can. They will be the same size as the kidney. If you don't like kidney (which I don't), chop them (and the kidney) very finely so you can't tell the difference between the two. It works! (and takes time, boo)
- Cut up the onion.
- Peel the garlic. Chop/mince/crush it. If using a garlic press like me, keep the skin-leavings to toss in with the crushed garlic. The long cooking time will take care of evening the texture and flavor.
- Cut up the carrot, celery, and pepper. I left the leaves long and whole, to add flavor during cooking, but so I could pick the out afterward.
- Trim off the fat from the heart. Put it through the food processor until it's finely ground. I ended up with about 1.5 cups of fluffed ground fat. Toss it into the pot you'll use for browning, and heat it up on medium heat (turn on the vent if you have one). Don't worry about the meat bits in there, they'll get nice and brown and then soften in slow cooking, giving flavor and gaining softening.
- Trim the heart of blood vessels and nerves, and cut it up. OR, be lazy like me, and cut it into chunks and just put it through the food processor. I figured the slow cooking would soften any stringy blood vessels, or I'd be able to pick them out later. So far, I've found none.
- Put the onions into the hot beef fat and salivate over a smell that's reminiscent of fried onion rings at our local mom'n'pop burger joint, when they used to use tallow to make them. (keep the vent on, though). Fry them until they start to caramelize (forever, plus 10 minutes)
- Cut up the kidney (match in size to the mushrooms if you don't like kidney, or are new to offal) The white core of the kidney is fat (good) and gristle (umm...). I just trimmed as much of it as I could, since I have texture issues with meat. Since this is going in the slow cooker, probably leaving some in would be fine, since it'll soften and/or dissolve away.
- When onions have just barely started to caramelize, turn the heat down to medium-low, and toss in all that garlic. Stir the whole shebang around for about 30 seconds, then dump it all out into a heat-proof bowl. Scrape out all the bits, and as much fat as you can get.
- Brown the bacon until it's how you like it. It is, however, going into the stew. At the very end of the bacon, toss in the chopped kidney to warm it up and cover it in bacon fat, then scrape out the pan into the same bowl. WARNING: you will smell offal when the kidney warms up. If you like this strong flavor, you can brown the kidney. If not, don't be put off, the stew will be delicious when all is said and done. Dump this in the heat-proof bowl
- Brown the heart. I only browned half of mind, as it was very finely ground. Browning didn't work that well, as the fine grinding allowed too much moisture to leak out in the pan, and it just steamed. If your heart is in chunks, they'll brown over high enough heat, while keeping the insides rare-ish. WARNING: browning heart has a strong meaty offaly smell. Don't worry, same as for the kidney. Toss onto the pile in the heat-proof bowl.
- Melt 8 oz butter. (trust me!) You can add more if like. (trust me!) Use medium heat, so it doesn't take forever. It won't burn that quickly.
- While the butter melts, whiz the tomatoes in the food processor until it's as liquidy as you can get it, or until the butters done. It's all good!
- When the butter's mostly melted, toss in the herbs and pepper.
- When that becomes fragrant, add in the salt and all those chopped veggies, keep moving them around, and get them smelling good. On medium high heat, this took about 1 minute.
- Dump in the stuff from the heat-proof bowl, plus any accumulated liquid.
- Pour in all of the following: all the ground tomato, the entire small bottle of red wine, the beef broth or gelatinzed stuff, and the worcestershire.
- Stir it all together, and add pre-boiled water (still hot) to cover. Stir in between adding, so you can make sure to add water to cover. NOTE: I had to divide this between my big pot (oven safe) and my slow cooker, because it made so much! Thank God it tastes good...
IN SLOW COOKER: on high for 4 hrs, just leave it alone.
When 4 hrs have passed, take the pot out of the oven, remove the lid, and let it cool a few minutes (basically until you can touch the handles). Then heat it on stove at about medium to reduce it to a nice thick stew, as thick as you like. Stir occasionally to make sure the bottom doesn't stick/burn.
For crockpot, keep it on high, take the lid off, and just let it evaporate. This is a lot slower than the stove-top way.
Since I had a half batch in both, at the end of reducing, I dumped the crockpot stew into the pot and stirred it together to ensure the flavor would be consistent.
As with any stew, this is better after it's sat over night or longer. I left it in the pots over night, covered, to cool down and get manageable, and for flavors to blend nicely. It was 70 F inside, and the stew was fine.
Reheat to serve. Top with parsley for yumminess and prettiness.
SEASONING VARIATIONS:
- Mexican-style spicing, topped with cilantro and lime
- Jamaican-style spicing, same topping?
- Indian curry spicing, topped with yogurt (or sour cream) with some lemon stirred in or squeezed on top and fresh cilantro or basil maybe?
