The other day we were watching our favorite travel channel TV show: Bizarre Foods. We love Andrew Zimmern’s humor and enjoy watching him explore curious food. Anyway, on that episode he showed culinary students how to cook heart. Everyone then proceeded to taste heart and comment on how good and unlike any other offal it was.
Next think I know, BF comes home from grocery shopping with lamb hearts. Now BF never willingly eats offal, not even liver. I got him to eat tongue, but that hardly count as offal: that is a voluntary muscle just as any other meat cut. So you can imagine my surprise. Well I quickly ventured online and found a recipe to cook heart. It suggested marinating the meat and then grilling it. I turned it into a pretty great sandwich.
Heart is quite different from other offal, in that it is much more meaty. And in this case it had a distinct lamb-y taste. It is also a quite bloody meat and I found I only needed small amounts to feel full. Anyway, as Andrew Zimmern would say, if it looks good, eat it. And this sandwich did look good!
Ingredients
- 1 lamb heart
- 2 zucchini
- 1 lemon or lime
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 bread rolls
- salt
- pepper
Directions
- Start by marinating the meat. Prepare the marinade using the juices and grated zest of the lemon, the minced garlic clove, 1 spoon of oil and a pinch of salt. Thinly slice the heart and put it in the marinade and let rest for 1/2 an hour and up to 24 hours.
- Prepare the zucchini by slicing it and sauteing it with the remaining oil until soft and completely cooked. Season with salt and pepper.
- Warm up a griddle on the stove until piping hot. Grill the bread to make it toasty. Grill the heart slices for a couple of minutes on each side. Season with salt and pepper.
- Assemble the sandwich and enjoy piping hot.
Hi! I'm PolaM, the Italian cooking in the Midwest.
I never get why people (espeially ones who eat and are fans of meat) stress so much about eating certain bits of it, that looks amazing!
I have no idea why some people are that picky… I love to try new things and most time I’m pleasantly surprised!
you’ve brought back fond memories of eating beef heart anticuchos(similar to sheesh kebabs) while travelling though peru a few years back. good memories. your sandwich looks great!
projectfoodlab : italy recently posted..best italian food and culture blogs and sites.
Thanks! And Thank you for stopping by! I hope I’ll see you around again!
Okay, I could never get my husband to eat heart but this was a really cool post!
Maybe you could trick him into eating it and see if he guesses what it is…
PolaM recently posted..A hearty sandwich
You ALMOST have me convinced to try it. My husband is a great fan of pretty much EVERYTHING meat, I didn’t grow up like that and over the years have learned to love some, but I have never warmed up to anything like this easily. I’ll have to show this to him, though, he’ll be all over it.
Sofie Dittmann @thegermanfoodie recently posted..German Cheesecake Brownie Bars
This is very meaty meat. If heart has a flaw is that it is almost too meaty for my taste (I ended up going vegetarian for the next couple of days). But a real meat lover should try it! You can add it to the next grilling party!
PolaM recently posted..A hearty sandwich
I totally might. As I said, my other half LOVES that stuff, and when I told him about your sandwich, he thought the idea was great.
Sofie Dittmann @thegermanfoodie recently posted..Bloggers I Follow: FoodBuzz
Hi Pola…this is one great recipe that I should bookmark, now a days we should think of healthy snack.
Lamb heart! count me in, I love offal in fact one of the best ones I tried was a Spanish dish called Lengua Estofado, I think you know what it means.
Raymund recently posted..Massaman Curry
Which reminds me, I have tongue in the freezer! I think I’ll get it out tonight and cook it tomorrow!
PolaM recently posted..A hearty sandwich
What an amazing sandwich! I would never have thought of making a heart sandwich and it looks devine!
and yes, you can have a colcannon croquette anytime. They’re in the freezer waiting for you to visit Australia, okay? don’t wait too long, I have no self control
Maureen recently posted..Colcannon Croquettes
I would have never thought of cooking heart!
As for the croquettes I’ll see if there is a flight leaving tomorrow
PolaM recently posted..A hearty sandwich
Oh my, this looks to die for! I have had other hearts before, which were all delicious, and would be intrigued to cook with lamb’s heart.
Kiri W. recently posted..Prickly Pear – Another Delicious Cactus Fruit
This was my first go at heart, but it did turn out great!
Questi sandwich sono troppo golosi, impossibile resistere, bravissima!
Un abbraccio!
Grazie! Se vi capita provate a farlo, e’ davvero molto buono!
PolaM recently posted..A hearty sandwich
Wow, heart! This is something I have never tasted before. I am up for anything so I would definitely try it if it was given to me in this sandwich, look great
Anna @The Littlest Anchovy recently posted..Mushroom Sliders
It was a first for me too. I tried it alone and immediately decided it would go great on a bed of sweet zucchini. And it did! It definitely surprised me!
PolaM recently posted..A hearty sandwich
My husband and I love watching Andrew Zimmern too. And I love heart: when we eat rodizio I always wait for them to come around with the chicken heart skewers, but unfortunately they don’t always!
Nuts about food recently posted..Gambas al ajillo
I find that, although Americans are more resistant to offal, the weird stuff is easier to find over here than in Italy….
PolaM recently posted..A hearty sandwich
Simply mouthwatering. I love this! Brava!
Alida recently posted..Sweet and sour peppers with capers and olives
Viene voglia di addentare il computer. Davvero buono.
Sorprendente vero?
PolaM recently posted..A hearty sandwich
I used to go to a brazilian grill that served lamb heart and I loved it.
Now to find a place to get lamb heart…cause this looks AMAZING!
Jen @ Juanita’s Cocina recently posted..My Wife Fell In Love With Me Over A Piece Of Meat
I got it at an halal butcher. I have the impression that most halal butcher carry a much wider variety of offal than your regular butcher…
That looks really good! I had heart once but it was a bit too chewy for me so I wasn’t really taken by it. But this looks much better!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella recently posted..Bacon Salt
I’m not an expert, but I had the impression that the meat should cook only a short time or it would get chewy… hence the grilling
I love a good sandwich. I have a sandwich at lease once a week, especially in the summer. Your sandwich looks great.
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