From a Worcester Allotment: How to cook Marrow

Thursday 21 October 2010

A member of the squash family, the marrow is a distinctive looking vegetable.
Its edible shiny skin can be any shade of green and its flesh is tender with a subtle flavour.
When buying marrow choose the smallest one that you can.
Over-sized marrows tend to have watery, bitter-tasting flesh.
It should be firm and heavy for its size.

How To Use Marrow

Marrow is always served cooked.
It can be baked in halves with the centre scooped out and stuffed with a filling such as sausage-meat and tomato or Bolognese sauce.
It can be sliced into rounds and topped with cheese and baked.
Or it can be cooked with onions, peppers and tomatoes to make a version of ratatouille.
Serve steamed or fried marrow as a side dish to accompany chicken or fish dishes.
Marrow can also be combined with ginger to make jam or included in the mixed summer vegetable preserve, piccalilli.
Herbs and spices that go particularly well with marrow include sage, thyme, chilli and cumin.

Top and tail the marrow and slice or cut into chunks as desired and remove the seeds.

To bake, preheat the oven to 190°C, gas mark 5, place the halved, stuffed marrow or marrow rings with topping in a roasting tin and cook for 35 - 55 minutes or until tender.

To steam, place prepared marrow chunks in a steamer and cook for 10 - 15 minutes or until tender.

To sauté, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and cook the prepared marrow chunks for 5 -10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender.