{"id":2760,"date":"2011-08-01T09:27:11","date_gmt":"2011-08-01T09:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jamesramsden.com\/?p=2760"},"modified":"2011-08-01T09:27:11","modified_gmt":"2011-08-01T09:27:11","slug":"recipe-duck-heart-toasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamesramsden.com\/2011\/08\/01\/recipe-duck-heart-toasts\/","title":{"rendered":"Recipe | Duck heart toasts"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>It was a cruel ruse but one that I think was probably fair. My sister’s friend Hero looked horrified when I suggested she try duck heart (“oh no gross”<\/em>), which rather jarred with my belief that you should at least try <\/em>something before saying you don’t like it. So I said no more but later that day when I knew she’d forgotten I set about cooking the plump little hearts on Dad’s improvised barbecue.<\/p>\n “Hero would you like a little barbecued snipe on toast?”<\/p>\n “Oooh, yes please…..(eats heart)….this is delicious. <\/em>Wow! How have you cooked this?”<\/p>\n I explained briefly what I’d done and wandered off. A few minutes later she stomped into the kitchen.<\/p>\n “Jammy I can’t believe <\/em>you made me eat heart!”<\/p>\n “But you said you liked it.”<\/p>\n “Yeah but that’s when I thought it was snipe. Heart’s just gross.<\/em>”<\/p>\n It’s funny how much the mind rules the palate. I have no doubt that if I’d given it to her saying it was heart she’d have found it disgusting. Really the heart’s just another muscle, but there is understandably something a little squeamish about it. Like eating a voodoo canape, as Alan Partridge said.<\/p>\n Anyway, if you fancy giving it a go, here’s what I did. It’s incredibly straightforward, and will work just as well with a chicken heart.<\/p>\n * A handful of duck hearts – one each for a nibble or 2-3 each for a starter (they’re good in salads) – Butterfly the hearts but slicing 5\/6 of the way through them and flattening them out.<\/p>\n – Marinate in the tabasco, soy, honey, olive oil and salt. This is very basic, due to a very bare kitchen, so do jazz it up. Garlic, herbs, you know what to do. Leave for as long as you like. I cooked them pretty much straight away.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n – \u00a0Grill or barbecue for 2 minutes on each side and serve on toast.<\/p>\n
\n* A few shakes of tabasco
\n* A tbsp or thereabouts of soy sauce
\n* A tsp of honey
\n* A glug of olive oil
\n* A good pinch of salt
\n* Sliced baguette<\/p>\n