Will it work? Sorta. Is it ideal? Not really. Without the recess, you will have your optic left of center, as you said. Now you will have two offsets. Elevation is always offset because the optic sits above the bore. On the near side of the zero distance, you hit below your point of aim and on the far side you hit above, at least until gravity pulls the bullet back towards earth and you pass through the point of aim again. With the optic sitting left of center, you will have a windage offset as well. Yes, you will be able to zero it with the windage adjustment, but on the near side of the zero distance you will hit right of your point of aim and on the far side, you will obviously hit left with that distance growing as you reach out further beyond the zero point. Granted, the windage offset will be far less than the elevation and it may not be enough that it matters to you, but that is for you to decide.