Recipe of the week: chargrilled ox heart with watercress and charred radicchio and spring onions
You might have to place a special order with your butcher for ox heart, but it's worth it to make this. This is a good offal dish for beginners, as ox heart is quite a lean meat and doesn't have the same iron-heavy flavour you might get with duck or chicken hearts.
When treated correctly – thinly sliced and cooked over a charcoal grill – it tastes almost like strips of steak. The simple garlic and herb marinade complements it perfectly, and it pairs so well with the warm salad of grilled radicchio, which is cut through with lemon for another layer of flavour.
Serves two
- 250g ox heart, cleaned and cut into thin strips
- 50g radicchio, quartered lengthwise, stem removed, leaves separated
- 6 spring onions, trimmed to 6cm of the white part and some of the green
- 50g watercress
- 1tbs olive oil
- 1tsp lemon juice
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the marinade
- 25ml olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 5 oregano, sage or rosemary sprigs
Combine the strips of ox heart with the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
When ready to cook, preheat a charcoal grill and remove the meat from the marinade.
Start by grilling the radicchio leaves on both sides (without oil) for 3-4 minutes, until tender. Repeat with the spring onions and set them aside. Grill the strips of marinated meat for 1-2 minutes on each side, no longer.
Combine the grilled vegetables, watercress and heart in a bowl, drizzle with the olive oil and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
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