So, I’ve missed two in a row. Slapped wrist. The first was my mother’s birthday. We went to see The Lion King at the Lyceum. The second Friday, I was watching Dinner Ladies at the local theatre. I’m going to see The History Boys and Chicago, and possibly some Pinter, later this month.

Yes, I fall into that nice category of Under 26 that means I can get free entry to some theatres in this country for the next two years.

So far that hasn’t applied at all. I can’t believe how much I’ve spent!

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Technically, this month’s theme is eggs (Easter, see?), but since I missed two offals in a row, I thought I’d throw you my very own made-up bolgnaise recipe. cook this about once a month and freeze it in multiple portions for when I can’t be arsed to cook. Currently in the freezer is mince + stewing beef + pig kidney.

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The first time I had heart, it was £2 of ox heart and fed four people easily. Economy cooking at its finest! Heart is often overlooked for being tough and gristley, but it really depends how you cook it. I’ve had more good heart than I’ve had good steak, but that’s probably as much testiment to my inability to cook steak. Heart’s good, though, and incredibly cheap. It’s a great way to bulk out lasagnes, cottage pies, normal pies, and bolgnaise sauces.

My favourite way to do heart for heart’s sake is in a slow cooker. Cut it into reasonable sized chunks (you need a large knife and a lot of clout), add a little water, red wine and seasoning, and put on to cook at breakfast time. By dinner, it’s soft and tender and juicy and good, and there’s a really nice gravy too.

Mrs Beeton didn’t have a slow cooker, alas. Not that a Victorian oven or aga couldn’t be persuaded to act like one, but her only recipe for ox heart is to have it stuffed.

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Another late foody friday. This month’s theme is offal!

Okay, so a lot of people don’t eat offal (or sweetbreads). I do. I didn’t until I went to university, but there I (a) met a lot of people far more adventurous than I and (b) didn’t have much money. Also, it was going to be eggs this month, but Easter’s not ’til April, so you get offal now.

So, cheap food is good in a recession, and using up all of an animal is more environmentally friendly and ethical and only eating bits and wasting the rest. Also, if it’s done right (usually in a slow cooker) things like liver and heart can be absolutely delicious. No really.

I discovered (by which I mean ‘I enjoyed for the first time’, since it wasn’t the first time I’d eaten it) liver in a pub a couple of summers ago. Liver, bacon, and mustard mash.

Searching the historical cookbooks, calf’s liver and bacon has been a popular combination for centuries, and rightly so. My personal, poorly informed opinion, is that when it comes to liver the larger and younger the animal, the better it tastes. So calf is my favourite, then lamb, and then pork. I haven’t tried much poultry liver outside of pates (and I really ought to do a duck liver and orange pate, because, it’s delicious!).

This recipe is largely my own devising, from several attempts at this recipe. I’ve included the two historical recipes (John Nott and Robert Smith) as well. This makes a large meal for one, or two small meals.

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