Brazilian Chicken Hearts on Skewers, Churrasco Style

If you’ve ever been to one of those Brazilian restaurants where the meat is paraded around, fully cooked but attached to swords or skewers, you’ll get the idea.  In Brazil, they also do this with chicken hearts, but I’ve not seen this in restaurants in Florida, Connecticut or Illinois — the three locations I’ve investigated to date.  (I wonder if one can leave a special request with the wait staff…)

Brazilian Chicken Heart Currasco with Grape Tomato

Anyhow, the proper name for this method of cooking is churrasco, and a churrascaria is the place where these meats are cooked or grilled.

And, Warning:  there’s  a chicken heart closeup-macro photo at the bottom of this post.  (It’s better than looking at a hot dog… well, considering… )

The heart, just like the legs and the breasts of the bird, is also a muscle.  This is a differentiation from many other organ meats.  It is a hard-working one, too.  You want not to over cook it; but of course coming from chicken, you don’t want to under cook it, either.  At any rate, you don’t want this tiny little morsel of nutrition to escape you!  As a child, I begged for the chicken heart from any whole chicken we prepared.  (Dad was my only serious competition for it…)  I can’t remotely comprehend being intimidated by it!

I took the liberty in this recipe of adding grape tomatoes to the skewers.  It’s not traditional, but the two items are of similar size.  AND I like ’em, and they were looking at me from the fridge, so hey…

Oh, by the way, chicken heart yakatori is found in Japan — another version of chicken hearts on a skewer.  Next time I lay my hands on some quality chicken hearts, I’ll give that recipe a try!

Prep Time:  15 minutes active, plus at least an hour to marinate.
Cook Time:  7 – 8 minutes on a hot grill.
Rest Time:  About 5 minutes, but mainly for the sake of cooling down those grape tomatoes!
Serves:  As an appetizer, consider somewhere between half a skewer to a full skewer per person.  
Special equipment:  Bamboo skewers.  (You could use the metal skewers, but be careful of your fingers – the metal will retain the heat!)

Brazilian Charrasco-Style Chicken Hearts

 Marinate:

* Juice from 1/4 – 1/3rd lemon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground sea salt
* 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
* 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
* 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper.

In addition:

* about 1/2 pound chicken hearts, cleaned up (see below).  This was actually 23 individual hearts for this meal.
* about 10 grape tomatoes

Combine all the marinate ingredients together in a bowl.  Set aside.

Wash the hearts, squeezing out any blood (that’s the black stuff) that might be there.  Usually I don’t find any.  Using kitchen scissors, remove any fat from the top of the hearts and discard.

Toss the hearts in the marinate, and mix around.  You can lightly prick the hearts two or three times to enhance absorption of marinate if you desire.  Place in fridge for at least an hour, but you can go overnight if you desire.

 At least an hour before grilling, put your bamboo skewers in water to cover.  This will prevent them from igniting while cooking.

You can use your regular grill (charcoal or propane), or an electric grill such as the George Foreman.   Get it heated up and ready.  You can add the hearts and tomatoes to the skewers, making sure you keep along as much garlic as possible for the ride…  When you are ready, add the skewers over high heat, but away from any potential flare-ups.  On a Foreman, flip the skewers over after about 3 minutes — you may need to wait a minute longer on the more traditional grills.  A Foreman will heat from the top as well, but this won’t be even, so flip anyway.

Cook a minute less on the other side, and if you are on an outdoor traditional grill, pierce a heart with a toothpick that is further from the flames.  If the juices run clear, you are ready to go.

Note I started putting the hearts and tomatoes on the center skewer  lengthwise, first — lengthwise was going to mean I’d run out of the 3 skewers I’d soaked before all the items got placed.  

Very yummers.  I am looking forward to trying that Japanese version later this fall!

This Brazilian creation was made LATE last April, but then for posting I was focusing on providing for Cinco de Mayo.  So, this, and the photos… they sat a bit.

Just a close-up.  With a little mince of garlic.

 Oh, and yes:   this post is being shared at Tell ‘Em Tuesday, and Fiesta Friday!  

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