RECIPE: Bacon and spinach stuffed beef hearts

I'm always on the lookout for new high protein food, and when I was wandering around Newcastle's Grainger Market on the weekend looking to stock up on multipack chicken breasts, I saw this fantastic bargain - two beef hearts for only £1! They weigh about 800g each (the ones I got are actually on the small side), and one heart is probably enough for 2 servings. That's approximately 70g protein per serving says MyFitnessPal. I've actually had heart before a while ago, but it was lamb heart (also tasty!), so this is the first time I've done beef heart. I thought stuffing it would be the easiest thing to do, and give it a bit of extra flavour. Lamb hearts are quite strong tasting, but it turns out the beef heart is much milder. Still, the stuffing worked well. The addition of bacon makes everything better.

I started by opening the heart to get a flat bit of meat. If you are in any way squeamish you may find this bit off putting, though I reckon everyone should have a good idea of where their food comes from and what exactly it is you are eating. You'll find the inside of the heart has some stringy bits, and probably some blood clots. Cut the stringy bits out (sharp knife or scissors), and give it a quick rinse to get rid of the blood.

Stuffing is really simple. Cut 6 slices of streaky bacon into small pieces and fry until crispy, add some finely chopped shallots (onions would do), then when they are done add some finely chopped garlic and 200g spinach. The spinach will wilt pretty quickly. Once it has cooled down a bit, then stuff your heart! Ideally you'd tie it up using butcher's twine, but as I never have any of that in the house, I sort of rolled it up and squashed it into a bread tin so it didn't unfold itself. I added a bit of oxo stock to the tin as organs are a bit tougher than muscle and I didn't want it to dry out (this also means you have a nice gravy to go with it). Cooking time I estimated at 20 ins, which turned out perfect, on the well done side of medium rare. I've written up the recipe for a meal to serve 2, if you're really hungry just double everything and have a whole heart per person!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 beef heart
• 6 slices streaky bacon (other bacon fine too, streaky just goes crispy quickly)
• 200g spinach
• 3 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped (or grated)
• 1 oxo cube
• 1/2 tbsp coconut oil (or whatever oil you prefer)

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 260°C
• Cut heart down the side so that you can lay it flat, remove any stringy bits and give it a good rinse to get rid of any clots etc
• Cut bacon into small pieces
• Melt the oil in a frying pan, add bacon and shallow fry on high temaperture until crispy
• Add shallots, turn temperature to medium and fry until transparent
• Add garlic and spinach, stir until all the spinach is wilted
• Turn off heat and let it cool down a bit
• When cool, add stuffing to flat side of heart and roll up
• Tie it up with butcher's twine, or improvise and pack it in a small dish to stop it unrolling!
• Transfer to small oven proof dish (I used a bread tin), fill the bottom with beef stock
• Cook in oven for approx. 20 minutes
• Slice and serve! The stock in the bottom of the tin thickens in the oven and makes a fab gravy

RECIPE: Chocolate protein muffins

I wasn't sure whether to do recipe posts, but hey, why not! I've been experimenting with various recipes for protein muffins, largely because protein shakes get very boring after a while, but also because I sometimes get chocolate cravings and these are a good way to help resist and to stick with the macros. I thought I would post this one as it turned out really well. Most of the recipes I've tried have been edible, but the texture has been a bit dry and rubbery. These muffins have a texture much more comparable to 'normal' muffins, especially if you eat them 1-2 days after making. I noticed that after day 3 they went a little stale. I think the secret to the good texture is the addition of honey, with a bit extra baking powder so that it isn't too dense. This made 9 muffins. According to MyFitnessPal, nutritional info per 1 muffin as follows:

Calories 145 Fat 6.5g Carbs 12.8g Protein 10.8g

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 3 scoops chocolate whey protein powder (I used Protein Dynamix Whey Choc Brownie)
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 cup ground almonds 
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup water
• Pinch of salt

METHOD:

• Preheat oven to 175°C 
• Combine dry ingredients in a  mixing bowl
• Add eggs and water and stir until combined
• If it feels too thick adjust so that the mixture pours into cases
• Divide mixture into muffins cases
• Bake for 15 minutes until a skewer comes out clean 
• 
  

You may need to play around with the timing. I've found that there is only a minute or so between a sticky skewer and a clean skewer, and you don't want to overcook!