Italian Lamb Heart Sandwiches with Ricotta and Lemon
Makes enough for 6 generous sandwiches
Servings: 6
Ingredients
Heart Confit
- 2.25 lbs lamb or goat hearts trimmed of fat and any aorta fragments to yield 2 lbs
- 9 grams 2 scant teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper or to taste
- 1 large clove of garlic
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 2 cups lamb fat cooking oil can be used but is a poor substitute
For serving
- Small to medium-sized soft buns or Kaiser rolls
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 4 oz fresh chevre
- Generous fresh cracked black pepper to taste (about ½ teaspoon)
- Zest of a small lemon grated (optional)
- 1 large lemon
Instructions
Trim the hearts
- Trim excess fat from the top of the hearts and remove the central vein if present. Slice the lamb hearts as thin as possible.
Marinate
- Grate the garlic as fine as possible, or mash to a paste, then toss with the lamb, along with the salt, chili, and rosemary. Allow the lamb to marinate overnight.
- The next day, preheat the oven to 250.
Cooking
- Cover the lamb with the fat to cover, add the wine, then bake, covered, for 2 hours, then cool.
- From here, the cooked heart can be refrigerated for a month or more, as long as the fat completely covers the heart, and the seal of fat remains unbroken and air-tight. When you take the container out to remove heart to cook, you’ll need to re-melt all the fat and pour it back over the heart you don’t use to replace the air-tight seal. That being said, the heart tastes so good it’s unlikely it will last longer than a few days.
Serving
- Mix the cheeses and season to taste lightly with salt and pepper. Cut 1/4 inch off of one slice of the lemon, then shave it thin using a mandoline, or a very sharp knife. Remove any pieces of seed from the lemon.
- To assemble the sandwiches, scoop out the hearts with a little bit of their fat and heat gently in a pan until hot and sizzling. Meanwhile, lightly toast the buns to ensure they taste fresh.
- Cut each bun in half, fill with a generous amount of the heart confit, letting some of the fat and juices seep into the buns. Spread the top of the bun with a tablespoon or two of the ricotta mixture, top with 2 lemon slices each, depending on size, and serve, with a napkin.