You can find locally-raised lamb hearts for these tacos at Tum Tum’s Meats, at the beginning of the Hot Springs Road (they also make really fantastic bacon).
Cooking the lamb hearts twice gives the final product a satisfying texture. This is a great recipe for people who are thinking of including more offal in their diet because it hides some of the texture and flavour issues that some people face with cuts like this.
Yield: 4
Twice-Cooked Lamb Heart Tacos
Ingredients
- 2 lamb hearts
- 1/2 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp Chinese Five Spice
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- Tortillas, to serve
- Sliced cucumbers, to serve
- Sambal (or any hot sauce or chili paste), to serve
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine ginger, garlic, Five Spice, salt, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Toss lamb hearts in marinade and let sit for at least an hour, but up to overnight.
- Remove hearts from marinade, but reserve the marinade. Heat a large drizzle of oil in a cast iron skillet, over medium-high heat, sear the lamb hearts on each side until brown and then remove from the skillet. Add reserved marinade and 1 cup of beef stock and bring to a simmer. Continue to cook until the liquid is reduced and thickened, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Chop the heart into small pieces, coat the bottom of a skillet with 1/8 inch of oil and place over high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the chopped heart and cook, tossing often, until heart bits are brown. Remove from the oil and toss with reserved reduced sauce
- Top each taco with a scoop of meat, a few sliced cucumbers and any hot sauce or chili oil.
