We wouldn’t want to be heartless – especially on valentines day.

So off we went to Butcher Kluge and ordered some lamb’s hearts early in the week. The fact that they had to look up prices and phone the supplier indicates that we are now well and truly off the trodden path. (This is also time to remind ourselves that we are trying to eat slaughterhouse-waste rather than exotic stuff that requires extra animals to be killed. This is meant to be a sustainability rather than an artisan project.)

Today’s recipe is not for those in a hurry, it requires a lot of preparation and a cooking time of nearly 3 hours! Any good recipe starts with chopping onions, ours were particularly pokey – tears on valentines.

Add wine and bread and reduce to a fragrant stuffing….

While the stuffing is reduced it is time for the gory bit:
The hearts need to be trimmed and blood-clots have to be removed.

Even the addition of some fresh sage and a posh cookbook fail to make this look very appealing…

After cooling down the stuffing, fill it into the lambs’ hearts

then cover with bacon and add some stock:

Ready for the oven (potato in a supporting role):

Settle in for a movie or take a long walk – the oven time is 2.5 hours and our side dish rutabaga only takes 20 mins of boiling.

Nearly 2 hours in things are starting to look yummy … and we get started on the rutabaga.

 

And here for the finished product. It tasted great, but after all that work and cooking it really should. Sustainability rating is great for the cheap ingredients, but we have to make deductions for the need to roast for 3 hours.

Let’s keep this one strictly for valentines only.

— Brio