Chicken Heart Dish

I know that there are plenty of people out there who will read the name of this post and say “Yuck. No way. I’m not eating that!” To them I say, you have no idea what you’re missing! Chicken hearts are so tasty and yummy, however you make them, whether barbequed or cooked in a stove-top dish. 

Our local supermarket doesn’t sell chicken hearts every day and so when I saw some fresh ones, I immediately grabbed a kilo, knowing that my loyal customer Shira will lick her fingers.

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This time I am making a dish that will be served on white rice.

After freezing about half a kilo of chicken hearts for another day, I take the remaining 500 grams and clean off the extra fat, then I make a small cut in each and every one of the hearts so they don’t burst as I cook them. My thoughts at this point are screaming: “cholesterol! alert cholesterol alert!,” and I am just imagining how our hearts will look after eating all this. But who cares? We live only once and might as well enjoy it. Right ?? !!!!!

After washing the hearts, I take two medium carrots, and two boxes of button mushrooms (about 400 grams), three red onions and 100 grams of tomato paste. I chop everything and fry it all together, first the onions then the carrots and after a short while the mushrooms. 

Then I start spicing it, with three or four garlic cloves, some salt and pepper, oyster sauce and red sweet chile sauce. I add the tomato paste and about one cup of water. I throw in some bean sprouts just because I had them in the fridge, and at the last moment, I felt like adding them.

I mix all of it together and let it cook on medium heat until it’s ready, about 40 min.

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It was December when I made that dish. The sky was gray and rain was falling outside

when I served the dish in a bowl over a pile of white rice. Shira asked for seconds without even eating the rice.

Olive Time

Broken Green Syrian olives

photo by Eyal Warshavsky

I just love olives, especially green Syrian broken olives cured with salt, garlic and lemon. It takes a minimum of about three weeks from the time I close the jar until I start eating them, and some will say they are still too bitter at that point. But I love that bitter salty taste, with a hint of hot pepper.

 October and November are olive harvest time. Right after the first rain, I used to take Shira to the tree that grew under my grandmother’s home in Jerusalem and pick olives off the tree. Then we would crack each one with a rock or just use a knife to make a small incision.

Once at home, the olives go in a bowl with fresh water for about three days, changing the water every day. 

photo by Eyal Warshavsky

On the fourth day I take a clean jar and put the olives in it  for two kilos of olives I use  six to eight garlic cloves , one medium sliced lemon, and two or three chile peppers.  

Then I prepare a solution of water and salt.  Here I use a fresh egg as my measure: after mixing the solution in a bowl or pitcher, I place an egg in the water. If the egg remains roughly in the middle – not floating to the surface, but not sinking – I’ve got the right amount of salt for the process. Once the solution is balanced, I pour it on the olives, and top it off with some olive oil to prevent contact with air. Then I close the jar tightly, and wait.

photo by Eyal Warshavsky

After about three weeks I start tasting. Since I do not make more than three kilos of olives,  after two months I run out , and I go back to buying my olives in the market, and wait for next year’s olive harvest.

Do try this at home!!!!