Access to all articles, new health classes, discounts in our store, and more!
Grilled Chicken Hearts with Wild Pesto
Background info: For millennia, hunter-gatherers “followed the fat” in terms of preferring older and heavier animals when it came to choosing their wild quarry, and, like wolves and other carnivorous animals, prioritized fattier cuts of meat and organs. Much like other organ meats, chicken hearts are high in B vitamins, and are especially rich in B12 and zinc, an essential mineral that plays an important role in wound healing and maintaining insulin sensitivity.
– Price-Pottenger
● ● ●
Serves 4
Animal hearts are nutritional powerhouses. Since they are essentially muscles, their flavor and texture are more familiar to us than the flavors and textures of other organ meats, so they are a great place to start as you explore organ meats. Plus, they are delicious. Keep a resealable bag in your freezer for storing hearts each time you butcher a chicken. When you have enough saved up, use this simple recipe to serve them to your family.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces chicken hearts
- Sea salt
- ¼ cup Wild Pesto or any pesto
Directions
Preheat the grill to medium-high. Thread the chicken hearts onto skewers and salt liberally. Grill on bothsides until cooked through, about 10 minutes total. Brush with the pesto while still warm and serve.
WILD PESTO
Makes about 2 cups
Pesto is an excellent way to make use of two different flavors that come from certain wild greens. For a traditional-flavored pesto, use garlic mustard leaves – they possess a flavor perfectly described by their name, that of both garlic and mustard greens. Or, for a refreshing, lighter pesto, use the lemony sheep sorrel or wood sorrel. Pesto is incredibly versatile. It pairs well with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella and can be used as a dip or spread, a base layer on a sourdough pizza crust, and a topping for grilled meats, such as Grilled Chicken Hearts.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups sheep sorrel, wood sorrel, and/or garlic mustard leaves
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled, or 1 tablespoon minced field garlic or wild onion
- ½ cup toasted black walnuts or sunflower seeds
Directions
Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse several times, until they’re coarsely chopped. Scrape down the work bowl, then process continuously until the sauce is smooth. Use immediately or store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for several months.
Recipes and photo reprinted from Eat Like a Human: Nourishing Foods and Ancient Ways of Cooking to Revolutionize Your Health by Dr. Bill Schindler (Little, Brown Spark; 2021). Photo by Brianna Schindler. For more information, visit eatlikeahuman.com and modernstoneagekitchen.com.
Check out other recipes from Bill Schindler, PhD:
Published in the Price-Pottenger Journal of Health & Healing
Summer 2022 | Volume 46, Number 2
Copyright © 2022 Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, Inc.®
All Rights Reserved Worldwide