Dish of Hearts with Prunes
(click to enlarge)

Hearts with Prunes


Scandinavia

Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  
7 main
****
5-1/2 hrs
Yes
Long cooking, but flavorful and satisfying. The sauce is a little sweet, see Note-4. Almost all the prep time is for trimming and cutting up the hearts. This can be done well ahead and the pieces frozen if need be.

6
3-1/2
1
5
1
1
3
1-1/2
3
1
1/2
1/3
2/3
2
------

oz
#
#
T
t

T
#
c
c
t
t
c
T
---

Prunes (1)
Hearts (2)
Onions
Butter (3)
Coriander Seed  
Thyme sprig
Cider vinegar
Apples, sweet
Apple Juice (4)
Water
Salt
Pepper
Cream, heavy
Soy Sauce
-- Serve With
Potatoes or (5)

Prep   -   (1 hr)
  1. Pit PRUNES if necessary. Cut in half crosswise and soak in cool water until needed.
  2. Clean HEARTS and cut into strips no more than 1/4 inch thick and about 1-1/2 inch long by 1/2 inch wide, or however it works out.
  3. Chop ONIONS medium.
  4. Peel APPLES and cut into about 3/4 inch chunks.
RUN   -   (4-1/2 hrs)
  1. In a sauté pan large enough for the whole recipe (it will just fit in a 3-1/2 quart - if you are careful), melt 2 T Butter. When it stops foaming and starts to color, stir in the Onions, Coriander and Thyme. Fry stirring until the Onions threaten to color. Remove all from the pan, leaving as much butter as you can, and set aside.
  2. Add 1 T Butter and fry 1/3 Hearts in the butter until lightly browned, then set aside, leaving the butter. Repeat for the other two thirds, adding 1 T Butter for each batch.
  3. Return all Hearts to the pan. Stir in Vinegar and fry stirring until almost dry.
  4. Stir in Onions, Apples, Apple Juice and Water, Salt and Pepper. Cover and simmer until meat is very tender, 4 hours or more. The liquid should be reduced to a light sauce consistency (the Apple chunks should have disappeared almost completely).
  5. Drain the Prunes. Stir them in along with Cream and Soy Sauce. Taste - if too tart (unlikely), stir in more Cream.
  6. Serve hot with Potatoes or other root vegetables, mashed or prepared as you like.
NOTES:
  1. Prunes:

      Weight is given without pits. Adjust if your prunes have pits.
  2. Hearts:

      These can be from calf, pig or lamb. Pig sells at the lowest price and is low in fat (78% yield), while lamb is at a much higher price and comes with a lot of fat and the hassle of removing it (70% yield). Pig and lamb cook about the same and can be mixed (unless you are an obserbant Jew or Muslim).
  3. Butter:

      It's not all used at once, see the instructions.
  4. Apple Juice

      This should be unfiltered if possible. The pattern recipe called for 4 cups, but the dish turned out a little sweeter than I like (I'm not Scandinavian), so I replaced some juice with water. Adjust to your taste.
  5. Root Vegetables:

      Smashed potatoes would be good (make the sauce gravy thickness - there's plenty of it). Turnips or a mix of roots would also be good, mashed or in chunks. I find rice works well too, but that wouldn't be so Scandinavian.
  6. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste
vmm_heartp1 140118 sk124   -   www.clovegarden.com
©Andrew Grygus - agryg@aaxnet.com - Linking to and non-commercial use of this page is permitted.