Ox Heart Ragu

The tale behind this dish goes something like…. We’ve been eating Pork with everything for the last few days thanks to a ½ price deal. So on Thursday for a bit of fun and a change of culinary scenery I bumbled off to intentionally got something a bit ‘Ropey’. For £1.65 we didn’t have great expectations for this chopped up atrocity. How wrong can you be?!

Clearly it a slow cook gig and you’d really not want to try this on a camp-stove at this time of year. But in the summer over a fire……

Ingredients:-

450g of Diced Ox Heart, steeped in Milk
1 Tin of chopped Tomatoes, plus ½ a tin of water
2 Tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar
2 Carrot, finely chopped
2 Stick of Celery, finely chopped
1 Large Red Onion, diced
1 Tbsp of Tomato Puree
2 Tbsp of plain Flour (Gluten free foe us)
1 Pint of mixed Beef and Red Wine Stock (We’re using Morrison’s own brand Stock Pots – Which are cheap and really good)
6 Mushrooms, finely sliced
1 Tsp of dried Oregano
½ Tsp of Cumin powder
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
A dish of Oyster Sauce
1 Tsp of Worcester Sauce
1 Tsp of Gluten free Yeast Extract (Own brand Marmite)
1 Tsp of dried Thyme
½ Tsp of Onion Salt
½ Tsp of Garlic Salt
A sprinkle of Mono-Sodium Glutamate
Oil to Fry
Salt & Pepper to season
Italian style hard Cheese and fresh Parsley to garnish

Method:-

(1) Drain the Ox Heart of the Milk.
(2) Season the Flour with Cumin, Garlic Salt, Onion Salt and Salt & Pepper.
(3) Coat the chopped Ox Heart in the seasoned Flour.
(4) In a large frying pan fry to Heart in a little Oil to seal on all sides.
(5) Remove the Heart and set aside.
(6) Add a little more Oil to the pan.
(7) Add the Onions, Carrot, Garlic & Celery and fry over a medium heat to soften.
(8) Return the Heart to the pan and stir in the Tomato Puree.
(9) Add the Stock and simmer for a few minutes.
(10) Add the Oregano, Thyme and Mushrooms and simmer for a couple of minutes.
(11) Add the remaining ingredients and stir.
(12) Transfer to a casserole dish and place in the oven.
(13) Cook at 160c and 3 ½ to 4 hours.
(14) Serve over Rice Stock Stick Noodles and garish with Italian style hard Cheese and fresh Parsley.

This was really good and far exceeded our rather bleak expectations! There’s also over half of the Ragu left which we’ll be heating and serving up in Jacket Potatoes this evening. Not bad going for £1.65…….