Beef Heart

Recipe

Roasted Ox Heart

• 1 organic pasture-fed ox heart, cut in half

• 180g organic streaky bacon, diced small

• 250g organic chestnut mushrooms, finely diced

• 1 large handful of sliced organic kale or seasonal organic cabbage

• 25g organic butter

• Butcher’s twine/string

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

• Salt and pepper to taste

Prep 30 – 40 min > Cook 1 – 2 hrs (depending on preference) Serves 6

Start by removing all the hard fat (don’t worry if some meat comes away with it). Remove any arteries and veins still attached on the inside of the heart and remove any stringy parts. You should now have two pieces of heart with a small amount of fat around the outside.

Blanch the kale or cabbage in boiling salted water for 1-2 minutes, refresh in ice-cold water to stop the cooking.

Pan fry the streaky bacon in 1/3 of the butter until crisp. Remove from the pan and set aside. Fry the mushrooms in the bacon fat. Once cooked though, remove from the pan and add to the bacon. Chop up the blanched kale/cabbage to a similar size as the bacon and mushrooms. Mix everything together, add a little salt and pepper to taste, and leave the mixture to cool.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180˚C

On a baking tray place one piece of the heart with the fat side face down. Place the butcher’s string under the heart (so you don’t have to move it again). Spread the mix of bacon, mushroom and kale onto the heart. Cut 1/3 of the butter into small pieces and place on the mixture. Put the second piece of heart on top and tie it all together so it doesn’t fall apart.

Heat up a large frying pan or skillet (scorching hot) with the remainder of the butter and the tablespoon of oil. Add the heart carefully and cook for 3 minutes on each side (turning over very gently). Place on a wire rack over the baking tray and into the bottom shelf of your preheated oven.

Roast for around 40 mins for medium rare or around 120 mins for well done. Serve with all the trimmings you would normally serve for a roast dinner.