Main ingredients:
- 6x lambs' hearts
- 200g lentils
- 2x onions, 3x carrots
- Thyme, bay, black pepper, mint
You want obscure ingredients?! I'll show you obscure ingredients! I've not only never cooked heart before, I've never eaten heart before - in fact, I've never even eaten offal before, so this was a real plunge into the unknown. The process of slicing up these poor lambs' tickers made me feel a little bit queasy, but this recipe was well worth persevering with.
Hugh suggests serving the lambs' hearts as a lunch, which is frankly ridiculous, seeing as it takes around two hours to cook. First quarter the hearts and trim off the tubes (*shudder*) and then boil them in a stew of onion, carrot, bay and thyme for 90 minutes.
While this is simmering away gently, prep the lentils by boiling them with a bay leaf for 15 minutes. Next up, fry a whole onion for five minutes and prepare a dressing of cider vinegar, olive oil, English mustard and salt and pepper. When all the ingredients are done, mix together with a few sprigs of mint and set aside. With the heart bubbling away ominously, I lost my nerve and roasted some potatoes as a backup, just in case this all went horribly wrong.
It was with a great sense of relief that I removed the heart quarters from the broth and saw that they looked more or less like meat that you would actually want to eat. Then comes the tasty bit - fry the heart in salt, sherry, redcurrant jelly, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne, black pepper, mustard and double cream. This made a very tasty and spicy sauce which really lifted the whole dish.
In case you're wondering, heart meat tastes half way between venison and liver. Distinctly rich and dense, but also quite dark and gamey. Served up with the potatoes, this was a hearty supper than went down surprisingly well and resulted in four very clean plates. At around £2 a head, this was fairly economical, but it was also very satisfying to know that I had successfully cooked something completely new.Best for... Adventurous carnivores who want to broaden their horizons
Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day
Helen says... Pretty good - not all that scary-looking and not something you'd have to be starving to enjoy. Excellent sauce!
scary at first, but tasted great and a good talking point! Thank you, Chris and Helen ))
ReplyDeleteI simply wouldn't have the ♥ to make that. But holy heck, those poor little blood pumpers get battered by so many ingredients it's no wonder they come out delicious.
ReplyDeleteI reckon I could prepare a shoe sole like that and find it edible and tasty. ;)