Stuffed Lamb Hearts

Hearts are greatly underrated as a food - every slaughtered animal has one, but how often have you eaten one? Think about it, it's the most used muscle in the entire body, this makes it the tastiest meat available.

It is also incredibly easy to prepare. Think about stuffed chicken breast - you have to cut it carefully to make a suitable hole to stuff. But in a heart, there is already a selection of chambers to stuff with whatever delicious ingredients that you like. In this Instructable, I stuff my lamb heart with cheese and pesto, but the method is pretty similar for any stuffing.

Lamb Hearts (available from supermarkets and butchers)

Cheese

Tomato Pesto

Hearts are available from all good supermarkets and butchers. I bought mine from Tesco, for about 80p each.

They arrive with a fair bit of blood still around them, so make sure you pour it out. Once you have your heart, give it a good prod and see where is best to put the stuffing. Mine came pre-opened, but you may have to cut into it yourself to find some cavities.

The tubes usually come attached to the heart, as shown in the picture. They aren't particularly tasty, and are particularly chewy. If you prefer, you can cut these away before stuffing. I left mine on and fed them to the dog once cooked - cementing my title of "best doggy daddy" for at least another day.

Tomato pesto is all the best ingredients of Italian cuisine in one pot. Tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, cheese and basil. Mmmm...

Basically, spoon the pesto as far into the heart as possible. Use your fingers to get it all the way in. Remember to leave space for cheese.

Grate the cheese, and shove as much as possible into the heart holes. Lots will probably fall out during cooking, but it doesn't matter, stick even more in.

The cheese can be pretty much any type you like, but will result in some different results. I used cheddar, which got very greasy and the oil poured out. Mozzarella is probably the best choice, but it depends what you're going for. Experiment a bit, you might create a masterpiece.

Once stuffed, wrap in some tinfoil. Try to wrap it in such a way that it holds the stuffing in. Place it on an oven tray, and stick it in the oven.

The oven should be around 200°C, and it needs to cook for at least 45 mins. Check it when you take it out the oven - the center should be hot and cooked. If it's not, wrap it back up and put it back in the oven.

Once you're sure it's cooked, take it out the oven and unwrap it. It's likely to be swimming in water and oil, so take it out and let it drip off, then place on your plate. Slice it to see the stuffing inside, and serve.

The stuffed heart will go well with chips or vegetables, or can just be served by itself. Pesto has veg in it, making this an entirely healthy dinner!