Planned Leftovers with Ox Heart

Ox heart is not something you see every day in the average (super)market, but when you do, it is definitely worth snapping up. As a member of the offal family, it comes dirt cheap, but it can be prepared in a number of different ways, which variously emphasize its affinity to other organs or to steak. Plus, there’s enough meat on it to serve at least 8 people.

Choices of how to cook ox heart include boiling then pickling (my grandmother’s favourite), slow stewing (my first instinct), roasting, and more. Because I wanted to have the maximum opportunity for leftovers variety, I opted for roasting, and used a modified version of the recipe I found here.

My daughter came for a visit between Christmas and New Year, so it was a good opportunity to play with what for us is rather non-traditional food. To me, the meat tasted mostly like beef steak, though my family detected a faint hint of organ, too. Either way, it is definitely a rich meat, so portions need to be on the smaller side than normal.

Day one: Stuffed roasted ox heart with cherry port sauce (a pre-packaged gift), baked pumpkin and wilted cabbage salad.

Day two: Hot meat sandwiches with thin-sliced heart and bubble and squeak (made with pumpkin instead of potatoes).

Day three: Basic leftovers of cut up chunky strips, browned all over and covered with hot leftover port sauce (see above), leek and potato boats, cranberry salad.

Alternative leftover meals:

Stuffed cabbage–using ground leftover heart for the meat element.

Soup (of course).

About Julia Davis-Coombs

I'm an American living in the UK, combining rural Mid-west ideas about food with a suburban coastal British reality. It's fun!

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Tagged with: Beef, Cooking creatively, Menus, Ox heart, Planning
Posted in Kitchen Economy, Leftovers