Smoked Beef Heart with Red Wine-Chocolate Sauce

I know what you're thinking. WTF?! But stop. The heart was actually really great! However, if it makes you squeamish, feel free to switch the heart out with a different cut of beef. Not to mention, the Red Wine Chocolate sauce is AMAZING, and you could eat it with dirty socks and LOVE it.

INGREDIENTS

1 Beef Heart

2T Blackened Saskatchewan Rub

2T Butter

1T Evoo

1. Be sure to trim ALL the fat and silver skin from the heart! Remove the veins and arteries. After all the cleaning and trimming, I ended up with 3 thin steaks. Place the cleaned heart pieces in a ziploc with the marinade and marinate for about 3 hours.

2. Remove from marinade (shaking off as much as possible), and cover with the rub.

3. Set Smoker to (225F) ( with Super Smoke if you have it) and smoke hearts for about 2 hours or until you hit an internal temp of (135F) ( the steaks will probably cook at different rates, so keep an eye on the thinner ones!)

4. After you remove the steaks from the Smoker, wrap them in foil and set aside. (no tasting yet)

5. Put a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. When the skillet is HOT, add the evoo and butter. Sear the heart steaks for about a minute per side. Slice and serve immediately with The Red Wine Chocolate Sauce.

For Marinade

2C Red Wine

2T Lemon Juice

3T EVOO

1T Garlic, crushed

Thyme 1 Sprig

Zest of 1/2 Orange

1t Peppercorns

1. Combine all ingredients in a Zip Loc and add Heart steaks. Marinate about 3 hours.

For Red Wine-Chocolate Sauce (adapted from wideopeneats)

3T Butter

2 Shallots, rough chopped

1 Spring Rosemary

1.5C Red Wine

1T Peppercorns

4C Bone Broth

1/4C Dark Chocolate (I used Millcreek Pepercorn Chocolate 78% Dark) Grated or chopped thin

1. On medium heat, Saute the shallots, garlic, peppercorns, and rosemary in butter until the shallots are soft and fragrant. ( about 5 minutes)

2. Add the Red Wine. Reduce until the liquid is *almost evaporated. Add the Bone Broth and reduce by about 2/3. This will take about 20 minutes.

3. Finally, add the chocolate while whisking until its well incorperated

4. Pour the sauce into a sieve ( press down on all the chunks, you don't wanna miss out on any flavor)

5. Cover the heart with the sauce and enjoy!