The farmers' market was full of colour this week with stacks of orange pumpkins, brown butternut squash and green marrows everywhere. We don't eat marrow very often so I decided to buy one and see what I could come up with.
Stuffed Marrow
ingredients :
1 marrow
drizzle of olive oil
500g minced beef or lamb
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
1/2 green pepper
1/2 red pepper
4 mushrooms
a handful of raisins
1 can chopped tomatoes (or a can of tomato-based pasta sauce)
a good handful of oats
herbs and spices to season : I used garlic salt, za'atar, oregano, smoked paprika
2 tbsp coriander paste
grated cheese to sprinkle on top
To start with, I basically made a bolognese sauce, frying the mince with the onions, garlic, red and green peppers and mushrooms.
While this was simmering, I chopped the marrow in half lengthways and hollowed out both sides, discarding the seeds and stringy bits.
Disaster struck when I went to grab a can of chopped tomatoes - I didn't have any left ! The crisis was averted by replacing this with a jar of pasta sauce, which worked just as well.
I decided to add some raisins and also a couple of handfuls of oats to bulk it out a bit and soak up some of the excess liquid.
I placed both marrow "canoes" in a roasting tin and stuffed them with the mince mixture.
I sprinkled some za'atar over the top - it's become my go-to spice when I want to add a bit of a kick, but you could use anything you like : paprika, chilli flakes, oregano ...
Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake in the oven at 180° for 60-90 minutes, until the marrow is cooked through and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
The marrow skin was too tough to be eaten but the tender flesh scraped away very easily from the skin. If you use a smaller, more tender marrow, the skin may well be edible. You could also slice the marrow into rings before stuffing it, so that you can reduce the cooking time.
Disclosure : I'm participating in the 1st Edition Tiendeo cooking competion "Seasonal Recipes" - join in here
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What a great idea, these look so yummy, perfect for a winter meal. I think even I could manage to make these.
ReplyDeleteSounds yummy. Busy writing an entry, but did you see in the t&c, that it will be void if they get less than 10 entries
ReplyDeleteYes, I did see that. It's no skin off my nose, I'd have blogged the recipe anyway. They're up to 9 entries so hopefully they'll get one more !
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