Friday 3 October 2014

Ox Heart Ragu with tagliatelle

Okay lets dive in here, offal is a dirty word. Most people’s reaction to that I was cooking heart for our consumption that evening, looked at me like I was a little bit crazy (okay well I am a little..) and if I was actually serious... Or at least judging by my instagram feed it was! I hadn’t told B what I was making for dinner and when he came home from work, and lifted the pan lid he said it smelt very tasty… I almost served it under the guise of some sort of fancy game ragu but I chickened out upon serving and sweetly asked if he had eaten offal before…. Sadly B’s opinion wasn’t very high of offal and once I admitted the ragu was actually made of ox heart it was plainly obvious I was swiftly realising I was not onto a winning dish!

The idea to actually cook heart came about when me and my friend C went to a particular supermarket a bit further away and we both spotted it, then the price - £1.04 for 354g – a bit of a bargain and curiosity got the better of the cat, so to speak and it promptly took a ride in the trolley! I do try and keep our food budget down, what with everything else going up apart from our salaries and thought it was certainly worth a try at the price..


Now I must admit, whilst it was definitely edible and the sauce was actually gorgeously deep and delicious, the heart texture is an acquired taste. Very slightly chewy but I didn’t think it was anything worse than a slightly well done steak (which should be a criminal offence anyway!) and I managed to eat all of mine. B however picked all the bits of heart meat out and pushed them onto my plate. However there was a portion leftover going spare and I tubbed it for my dad, who apart from commenting it was a tiny bit salty for him was otherwise very tasty. You win some..you lose some..


Unfortunately I seem to have mislaid the most likely used envelope I had scribbled the recipe on – but it was approximately this - 

Ingredients:

354g Diced ox heart
400g tin Chopped Tomatoes
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 medium carrots, diced
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
1 large red Onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp plain flour 
S&P
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 rich beef stock pot, made up with a pint of hot water

Season the flour with salt and pepper, toss the ox heart pieces until lightly coated. Meanwhile heat a large deep sauté pan with the oil.

When hot, fry the ox heart until lightly browned, remove from the pan and add the onion, carrot and celery adding a little more oil if needed. Fry until lightly coloured, stir in the vinegar and allow it to evaporate a little, stir back through the ox heart pieces, the prepared stock and tomatoes, bring to the boil and then cover, allow to simmer away on a low heat for 2 hours with the occasional stir.

The sauce should thicken during cooking - season with salt and pepper if desired. 

Serve with freshly cooked Tagliatelle - allow about 75g per adult. Grate a little parmesan over to garnish if you have some in too!


As our somewhat unusual but delicious dinner is also very frugal I am sending it over to this months Credit Crunch Munch held by A New Addition this month. It was orginally created by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla of Fab Food 4 All to encourage dishes made with frugal ingredients:


5 comments:

  1. Oh no. I LOVE offal. All kinds. This looks so rich and gorgeous. Yes please!

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  2. Yay an offal fan Dom :) going to sneak some chicken liver next...!

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  3. I've never cooked heart. Maybe I am too feint hearted? Thanks for sending to CCM!

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  4. Im a great fan of beef heart even though the cholesterol level is a bit high. I slice beef hearts, toss them in the crockpot with no water or additives and slow cook for 9 hours. After that, I saute an onion and diced potatoes carrots and a few peas. I then add a dash of worcestershire sauce, a tablespoon of dijon, some S&P and some dried herbs like oregano and thyme and then two tablespoons of tomato puree and one tablespoon slurry of corn flour. Mix and then heat and pour just cooked tagliatelle and scatter grated parmesan on top....it's a hearty meal......:)

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  5. Perhaps it needed a 3rd hour of cooking to tenderise the beef? after all, heart is a very hard working muscle. I think Beef Heart Ragu is a classical Tuscan dish?

    I'm cooking this right now to pretty much same recipe, although I've re-cut the meat to smaller pieces so they are less recognisable.

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Thanks for stopping by my kitchen! I love to hear your thoughts and comments on my recipes!

Anne

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