While reviewing Brazil: A Cook’s Tour by Christopher Idone, I have found many fabulous Brazilian recipes including this one for baked fresh heart of palms.  I have gone from never hearing of heart of palms, to absolutely loving them.  I personally love to make this recipe with the honey (which is optional), but then again, I tend to like sweet food.

Palmito Assado Recipe:

Ingredients:
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 2 large hearts of palm (fresh should weigh around 1.5 pounds)
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/4 cup mild honey (optional – but I highly recommend it!)

Directions:
1.  Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
2.  You first need to clarify the butter by heating in over medium heat until it gets a bit of foam on top.  Remove this foam and pour the clear butter into a bowl (leaving behind the settlement on the bottom).
3.  Use a knife to cut through the first layer surrounding the heart of palm (cut lengthwise).
4.  The second layer of the heart of palm is a little hard, but do  not remove that layer.
5.  Put the heart of palm on a double thick layer of aluminum foil and brush butter on top of the heart of palm.
6.  Wrap the heart of palm in the aluminum foil and put it into a large pan.
7.  Bake for about 1.5 hours or until it is a soft.
8.  Serve right away with salt, pepper and / or honey!