A Marrow day

The other day I was given a marrow by a neighbor. For those of you who don't know what a marrow is, it's basically a large courgette and a member of the squash family . Its subtle in flavor and quite tender, can be slightly watery, so always a good idea to remove the excess water. The skin can be tough and bitter on some varieties.
To prepare the marrow for cooking, top, tail and peel. Scoop out the middle, making sure to remove all the seeds and cut into rings for frying or into chunks/cubes. Sprinkle with salt and leave in a colander for about an hour to remove the excess water.

 

Usually I would stuff it with a savory mince beef mix, top with cheese and then roast, or just simply roast with garlic, olive oil and seasoning, great with grilled fish or chicken. However when having it with roast meat, it's best to put the marrow in the meat roasting tray and let it soak up the meat juices. Do this during the last 25-30 minutes of the cooking time. On my Pickling and Preserving page I mentioned that marrow can be used in Piccalilli. Now as my marrow was quite large, I used about third for the piccalilli, this gave me enough to do two large jars of piccalilli.

With the remaining marrow, I decided to do something a little different then the usual. So after hitting the recipe books for a few hours this is what I came up with.

Marrow fritters (this is adapted from a codfish fritter recipe)

This recipe will gives you about 20-24 fritters

400g Grated marrow and 1tsp of coarse salt- combine and leave in a sieve for 30minutes to remove excess water

2 Onions, finely chopped

2 Tomatoes, de-seed and finely chopped

2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped

2 Scallions, finely chopped

1/2 Scotch Bonnet pepper or 2 med size chillies, de-seed and finely chop (adjust to your taste)

Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

400g self-raising flour

2tsp baking powder

Oil for frying

Saute the tomatoes, onion, garlic, scallions and scotch bonnet/chillies in about 2tbsp of oil. Once softened, drain and cool.

Drain the marrow and combine with the sauteed vegetable mix, add salt and pepper.

Mix the flour and baking powder, then add to the marrow mix. Add enough water to make a medium batter or use egg and milk to make the batter.

I left the batter for about 30 minutes before frying. I used a tablespoon of batter for one fritter, this made frying in batches easier and gave a more regular size. Keep warm in the oven until you have cooked all the batter.

My first batch was a bit of disaster as the fritters were not cooked in the middle, this was due to my oil being too hot!! Once I got this under control the fritters came out crisp and golden. Next time I think I will saute the grated marrow with the other vegetables. 

I also made a few fritters using a teaspoon, the right bite size for snacks ( great for future game night snack)
For lunch I used the fritters as a filling for my tortilla wraps, 3 fritters per wrap, with lettuce, tomato and sour cream.
For dinner I served the fritters with avocado, tomato, red onion and cucumber salad. My favorite dipping/dressing sauce to serve with any type of spicy fried fritters is yogurt, lemon juice, chopped garlic and mint leaves.

I still had quite a bit of marrow left, which I peeled, de-seeded and then cut in half. With one half I chopped into large 1inch chunks, the other half I sliced into long 1/4inch thick slices, salt and leave to drain for at least an hour or longer if you can.
The diced marrow I used to make ratatouille by substituting the courgette.
I don't have a recipe that I stick to but here is a list of ingredients that I used
Tomatoes - quartered
Aubergines - 1inch chunks
Marrow - 1inch chunks
Onion - quartered and the half each quarter
Peppers(if available) - 1inch chunks
Olive Oil
Fresh Basil Leaves - ripped rather than chopped
Fresh Garlic - crushed
Freshly ground black pepper
Place all the ingredients into a large roasting pan except the basil and make sure to mix well. Roast in a medium hot oven for about 25-35 minutes until the vegetables are tender and slightly browned.
Sprinkle with basil leaves and serve with your choice of meat or fish.
As I froze my ratatouille mix, I did not cook it and left out the basil leaves. You can freeze after cooking as well, just make sure to cool it properly before hand.
This ratatouille mix can be used in pasta sauces, as a vegetable base for cous cous, quinoa, puy lentils and pasta for salads, just omit the basil for other fresh herbs of your choice.
I think that this vegetable base will also work well for a quick vegetable curry.

With the sliced marrow, I made a vegetable lasagne using home-made tomato, pumpkin and spinach sauce with layers of marrow (instead of lasagne sheets) and topped with a bechamel sauce . You can make a meaty version using a classic beef bolognaise sauce. Again I made this for the freezing, therefore I did not top with cheese as I like to do this when ready for cooking.
Both dishes should keep in the refrigerator for about 3 months, once defrosted should take about 30-40 minutes to cook.

If any of you have any other favorite marrow recipes, please feel free to share them with me.

Enjoy!!