Beef Heart Stew

Part of the Wahls Protocol is eating organ meat once a week. Beef heart was pretty intimidating to me.  I did not grow up eating organ meat.  Throw me some escargot or frog’s legs, no problem, but a big ol’ cow heart freaks me out.  I am pleased to say that this dish turned out “hearty” and flavorful.  I apologize for the cheesy pun, I just couldn’t help myself.

First thing was to prepare the beef heart.  Here is how it comes in a package.

To prepare the heart I cut it in half and chopped off all of the fatty bits and any weird ventricley or hard to the touch parts.  A beef heart is pretty cheap and giant so cutting away a big portion of it didn’t make me feel that terrible.  I figured the less texturally frightening it was the better. Here is what I ended up with.

Next, I I sprinkled the heart with a little sea salt and dredged it in some arrowroot flour.

See?  No longer terrifying.  Here is the full recipe.

• 1 Beef heart trimmed of fat, blood vessels and ventricles, cubed.
• 1/4 cup of arrowroot flour
• 2 Tbsp of coconut oil
• 4 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 medium yellow onion chopped
• 1 cup of mushrooms sliced
• 1 cup of dry red wine
• 3-4 cups of water
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cloves
• 1 Tsp of sea salt
• 1/2 Tsp of black pepper
• 2 large carrots sliced
• 1 small turnip cubed
• 3 baby bok choy with core removed
• 1 TBSP of balsamic vinegar

Prepare beef heart as noted above.  Heat coconut oil on medium heat and add beef heart to pan. Stir until evenly browned.  Do not crowd meat or it will not brown nicely.  Remove meat from pot and put aside.  Saute garlic, onion and mushrooms until onions start to soften.  Put meat back in pot and add red wine.  Bring to a boil and let cook for 3-5 minutes to ensure the alcohol burns off.  Add in water, salt, pepper, bay leaf, cloves.  Simmer for 1 hour, Add carrots and turnip.  Bring mixture back up to a boil, then reduce to low simmer.  Cover pot and let stew cook 20 mins until vegetables are fork tender.  Add in bok choy and cook until it is just wilted.  You want it to maintain its color and a little bit of crunch. Remove from heat and add in balsamic vinegar.  If you prefer a gravy like consistency you can mix equal parts of arrowroot powder and cold water and add it to your stew. I suggest doing it a teaspoon full at a time.

Beef Shank Stew

I apologize for the lack of pictures.  I was cooking for company and didn’t have time for a giant photo shoot.  I am also not a fabulous photographer.  This is the first meal I made after my inaugural Wahl Protocol grocery trip and it was absolutely DELICIOUS!  I love to cook and I love a new challenge.  This diet is certainly a challenge!  After a veritable shopping spree at my local Freshco, this is what I came up with for dinner.  I found some frozen sliced beef shanks in the freezer section and since the good doctor says that bone broth is excellent for healing a troubled gut, I thought this would be just the thing.

• 2TBS of coconut oil
• 5 cloves garlic minced
• 2 shallots chopped
• 1/2  spanish onion chopped
• three cloves
• Package of sliced beef shanks (there were about 5 half inch thick slices)
• 3 cups pinot noir wine (I know, I know cheating on the first recipe but we had this lovely wine and I didn’t want to waste it)
• water (enough to cover the beef shanks)
• tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 Medium sweet potato chopped
• 5 baby bok choy (chopped greens only)
• Two large carrots chooped
• Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

In a large pot, heat coconut oil.  Add first three ingredients and saute until soft.  Add clove, beef shanks, wine, water, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then lower and  let simmer for one hour. Pull out the bones, scoop any marrow out and put back in the stew and cut and edible meat bits off and put them back in the stew. Add vegetables, bring back up to a boil and then down to a simmer until carrots and sweet potatoes are fork tender.  You may want to wait to the end to put in your bok choy so it stays nice and green but I didn’t bother. Remove from heat and stir in balsamic vinegar.  VOILA!  Deeeeelicous and hearty.