A Story of a Grilled Pig's Heart

Last week a kind friend brought us a whole pluck of a wild boar. He had been on a hunting trip to one of the island, that's why. It was late on Wednesday night, and knowing that liver needs to be cooked a.s.a.p, I simmered it with some carrots, onions and seasonings (salt, pepper, bay leaves) until cooked, to be made into a liver paté next day. The heart and the lights* had to wait - I was too tired to do anything with them in the evening.

First thing on Thursday morning, I checked with two food-loving friends if they're up for a wild boar supper on Thursday night. Of course they were. I made the liver paté, using my usual recipe (grind twice, season with salt, pepper, some brandy and soften with plenty of butter). I spent some time trying to pick a suitable recipe for the heart and lights, and eventually settled for a traditional stew. However, when I went to pick up the to other elements of the pluck, I realised that they were off. Obviously the summer heat wave we're currently having here in Estonia had quickened any processes that go on in raw meat, and there was no way I could use these for cooking.

I had about 2 hours before my friends were arriving for a feast of liver, hearts and lungs :) Luckily, our local supermarket has a very reasonable meat counter (as far as pork cuts are conserned, that is), and K. quickly brought me three nice pig's hearts. You see, I had promised so-called alternative cuts for dinner, so I decided to stick to it. A quick search in the web gave me an idea for grilled pig's heart, and I must say I haven't been so positively surprised about a dish for a while. The grilled heart was different, tasty and very meaty. I'd definitely make this again, when I see nice pig's hearts on the counter.

* An euphemism for lungs.

Grilled pig's heart
(Grillitud seasüda)
Serves about 6



2-3 pig's hearts
half a cup of dry red wine
5-6 Tbsp olive oil
half a cup of chopped herbs (parsley and/or basil)
2-3 large garlic cloves, slices
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Trim the hearts of any sinew and gristle, if necessary (we bought prepared ones). Cut into 7-8 mm slices, and put into a bowl.
Add other ingredients and stir to combine. Leave to marinate in room temperature, covered, for about an hour.
Heat a griddle until very hot, then grill the sliced meat on both sides until golden brown and cooked.

Serve with a drizzle of good balsamico (we used Belazu).

Gooseberry Tart with Condensed Milk Topping

When browsing the Estonian food blog roll this Monday, I spotted a raspberry and blackcurrant tart that had been topped with the simplest 'custard topping' ever - a can of sweetened condensed milk. As we had also picked a batch of mixed gooseberries when visiting K's mum (that was after we got back with our forest and bog bounty of cloudberries, bog bilberries and assorted wild mushrooms ), I was keen to try out the idea with gooseberries. Condensed milk on its own is utterly sweet, I gathered it would go well with slightly tart gooseberries. And it did - plus we quite liked the creamy texture of the topping.

Gooseberry Tart with Condensed Milk Topping
(Kondsenspiimakattega tikrikook)
Serves 8

100 g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
100 g plain/all-purpose flour
50 g potato starch*
a pinch of salt
1 large egg**
300-400 g gooseberries
400 g can of sweetened condensed milk

Place butter, flour, potato starch and salt into the food processor and process into fine crumbs. Add egg, process shortly until all ingredients are wet. Take the dough out of the food processor, press into a dough ball and flatten slightly. Wrap in a clingfilm and place to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough into a circle on a slightly floured surface and line a buttered 24 cm tart tin with it. Pre-bake (preferably blind-bake) at 200 C/400 F for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, top and tail the gooseberries (or is it 'tip and tail'?). Scatter on top of the tart base. Drizzle condensed milk on top, making sure that majority of berries are covered.
Bake for another 20 minutes or so, until the gooseberries are soft and tart lovely golden brown on edges.
Cool before serving.

* Replacing some of the flour with potato starch makes a crispier tart crust. If unavaiable, just take 150 g all-purpose flour instead.
** For an eggless crust, use 2-3 Tbsp cold water.

Yesterday

We spent couple of hours in our favourite forest and bog yesterday, taking home:

Two litres of beautiful cloudberries (1.2 kg of berries after cleaning!!). That's going to make plenty of delicious cloudberry jam:


Enough chantarelle mushrooms for 2, perhaps even three pies and quiches:


... and enough other wild mushrooms (edible Russula mushrooms) for today's mushroom sauce:


We're pleased :)