The Picture House Cookbook

Seared fillets of lamb's heart with smoked bacon, green beans and mustard dressing

2008-06-16T17:28:00.004+01:00

This makes a great little starter or light lunch. Lambs' hearts, when properly prepared, look and taste like a good piece of steak.

To prepare your lambs' hearts, first cut the top off the heart so getting rid of the arteries and blood vessels. Next you want to open up the heart by slicing down through the outer wall at the dividing points between the chambers. You should end up with two or three thick pieces and a few thin fillets. Lay the thick fillets on your board and with a very sharp knife remove a millimetre or so from the outer side. This will get rid of the tough membrane. Do the same with the inside to get rid of the thin tendons. You will now be left with some lovely looking fillets of heart that are devoid of any weird bits (that might put people off).

To prepare the dish, get yourself some salad leaves ( I like rocket and other green leaves); some mustard vinaigrette (3:1 oil to vinegar or lemon juice plus salt and pepper, a good whack of English mustard for heat and a little grain mustard, if you have some, for texture and appearance. The key to this dish is that the vinaigrette is very very hot); and a few green beans and rashers of smoked streaky bacon, cut into inch pieces.

Get a frying pan smoking hot, add a dash of oil then pop in the seasoned heart fillets. They need to be seared briefly for about 30 - 45 seconds each side; they can be served anywhere between blue and medium but must still have some degree of pinkness inside to avoid being overcooked and tough. Once cooked remove and leave to rest.

In the same frying pan, crisp up the bacon. Once some of the fat has rendered from it, add in the grean beans and sauté for a couple of minutes.

In a bowl toss your salad leaves in a little of the vinaigrette and season. Add the green beans, bacon and pan juices. Slice the heart thinly on an angle so you end up with slivers of juicy pink meat and add to the bowl

Plonk the whole lot on a plate arranging some of the heart, bacon and green beans on the top for effect. Drizzle a ring of your fiery hot mustard vinaigrette around the plate and you are done.

Left over potato gratin

2008-06-11T13:23:00.005+01:00

Perfect for using left over boiled or roast pots together with any other scraps from your fridge.

Start by slicing some onions and a few cloves of garlic. Use a ratio of roughly 1 to 4 onions to potatoes and as much garlic as you like. Fry these gently in a pan that will be large enough to hold the potatoes as well using a knob of butter and good glug of olive oil for about 10 mins, stirring occasionally. They want to be a nice golden colour, shrivelled and sweet.

Slice your potatoes into the pot and add plenty of salt and pepper. At this stage you can add any thing else you want eg cheese, ham, tomato, any leftovers and other things that need using up from your fridge.

Add milk and cream, adjusting the ratios depending on how rich you want the final dish. I use half and half. The liquid needs to cover the potatoes by a centimetre or so.

Taste the liquid and adjust the seasoning. Bake the mixture in any oven proof dish you want at about 180c until the top is bubbling and golden, about 30 minutes.

NB you can use raw potatoes as well but the dish will take longer to cook through. The thinner you slice them the quicker they will cook.

My favourite leftover gratins –

• Truffled mushroom.
Use a generous glug of good quality truffle oil (elle esse tartufo bianco is reasonably priced and well flavoured). Fry your mushrooms before adding and top with some sliced Swiss cheese or similar.

• Tartiflette
An alpine classic. Fry some bacon before adding along with a good grating of reblochon cheese or any other cheese nubbins you have hanging around.

• Leftover vegetable gratin
Use any vegetables you have leftover or that need using up.

Roast beef dripping toast with parsley and caper salad, horseradish and seasalt

2008-06-03T10:10:00.010+01:00

Ideal for left over roast beef - delicious!

This recipe makes a great supper or lunchtime meal and is perfect whenever you have roasted a good bit of beef and have judged it correctly so that you have some left over.

When you are roasting your beef be careful to save any fat (dripping) that comes off and not pour it away. It must be spooned over the roast as it cooks to keep it moist and improve flavour then can be skimmed from the pan before you make your gravy.

Later that night/next day all you need to do is this -

Cut a few thick/thin slices depending on your cut of beef (better quality thicker slices), pick some flat leaf parsley leaves (15 per person), cut some med/thick slices of bread (white is my facourite for this but as you please) and make sure you have left over horseradish from the previous night (grated root with a little whipped cream, dash vinegar, seasoning is great but good quality jars are fine)

From this point you are 5 minutes away from eating:

Fry your bread in the beef dripping till it is golden and crisp. Dont be shy with the dripping; as long as your beef is good quality (organic or biodynamic) then you should relish and not waste this bounty.

Lay your slices of beef over the fried bread and either serve it cold as is or warm very gently under a grill. I serve this rare/med rare but well done is delicious as well if that is your preference.

On the plate next to your beefy toast add: a good dollop of horseradish; a small salad of parsley and a few capers; olive oil and lemon. Then sprinkle with a dash of good sea salt.

Easy! A truly delicious combination of tastes for which i must thank Fergus Henderson of St Johns London who served me up something similar once at one of the many delightful lunches i have enjoyed there.

Try it at home - it's not difficult. Wheel it out as a snack or meal for impromptu Sunday night/Monday lunchtime guests; they will thank you for it (unless they are watching their weight).

Ciao