Here’s another edition of What’s for dinner?  The most important part of this meal is the beef heart with bacon and onion, one of our favorite ways to eat this organ meat.  Organ meats have always been an important part of traditional diets.  They are the most nutrient-dense parts of an animal, and animal foods are the most nutrient dense of human foods.  Traditional diets didn’t waste any part of the animal. As I said in my recipe for beef heart, it is highly prized along with other organ meats like liver and kidney but the heart has a milder flavor than liver. Beef heart is an especially good source of B vitamins, coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) important for our own heart health, and the minerals selenium, phosphorus, and zinc. Beef heart, as are other organ meats like liver, is a true ‘superfood.’

Here’s our dinner featuring beef heart with bacon:

What you’ll need

Beef heart
Bacon (naturally cured without nitrites and nitrates)
Onion

Spinach (ours was from the local farmers market)
Mushrooms (these were organic shiitake, but other types of mushrooms are good too)
Asparagus
Sweet potatoes
Butter

Sea salt (we use Celtic Sea Salt)

How to prepare the meal

Beef heart with Bacon (my recipe from a previous post)

Preparing the veggies

Sweet potatoes:  wash and peel the potatoes, then cut into chunks.  Put into a saucepan with filtered water to cover.  Bring to a boil, then cover, and lower heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.  Drain and season with butter, salt, and pepper to taste.

Spinach and mushrooms: Wash the spinach and let drain slightly on a paper towel.  Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth, de-stem, and slice.  Saute the mushrooms in 1 – 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, then add spinach and continue sauteing until spinach wilts–it doesn’t take long.

Asparagus:  Remove woody parts by holding both ends of each spear and flexing until the lower part breaks off.  Wash the asparagus and place in a saucepan with a small amount of water.  Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes.  Check for desired tenderness with a fork.  Drain and add butter salt to taste.  Sometimes I also add some freshly squeezed lemon juice to the asparagus.

So that everything is ready about the same time, I wash and prepare all the veggies before beginning to cook them.  Since the veggies for this meal don’t take much time to prepare, all the prep and cooking can be done while the beef heart is simmering.

Adjust the amounts of the veggies and seasonings for the number of servings needed.

Important information about beef heart and other organ meats

Organ meats are important sources of many nutrients.  They are packed with B vitamins, including B1, B2, B6, folate, and B12; they have an abundance of minerals like phosphorus, iron, copper, and magnesium.  They are also good sources of the important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. And of course they provide collagen and elastin which are good for skin and joint health.  You may not know that primitive peoples in the Arctic (where plant foods were scarce much of the year) were able to avoid diseases like scurvy because vitamin C can be found in organ meats.

Exception:  Organ meats from CAFO animals are not recommended.  Because organs are often the detoxifiers, they can have concentrated levels of synthetic hormones, herbicides, and other chemicals that are given to CAFO animals.  Get your organ meats from a local farmer that raises grass-fed beef and pastured animals.

Sources

Beef Heart with Bacon
The “Weird” Types of Meat with the Highest Nutrient Density
Organ Meats – ICK! Or Superfood?!

This post is linked on Monday Mania 9/17/12.