OK, without anything by which to judge the scale, this could be just a mere courgette, so here's the scale
As you can see, it was about 10" / 26cm long. It weighed-in at 2lbs 15oz / 1.32kg. I'm sure it would have grown a bit bigger if I had let it, but I deliberately cut this marrow before it had a chance to go tough, as big ones sometimes are.
Actually, size DOES matter. Here's why.
Jane wanted to use this marrow for one of our favourite recipes - marrow stuffed with spiced rice and minced beef - for which the marrow is basically kept pretty much whole. It needs to be par-boiled first. You need a big pan for this!
Having par-boiled the marrow whole, and allowed it to cool, you then slice off the top and scoop out the seeds.
You then fill the cavity with a mixture made with rice, minced beef, raisins and various Middle Eastern-style spices, stick the top back on (secured with some wooden cocktail sticks), distribute any remaining stuffing mixture around the sides, cover the whole thing with tomato passata and bake it.
We ate the dish with some home-grown Tenderstem broccoli and some home-baked bread. Delicious!
I also wanted to show you my marrow's scars. That sounds bizarre, I know, but you may remember that I wrote about having noticed what I thought were tooth-marks on the marrow when it was young. The wounds healed over as the marrow grew, and formed scars. Here is the evidence.
Poor old "Bush Baby" is back to Square One now, since no other fruits have formed yet. Hopefully some more will appear as the season progresses. [My antics with the manual pollination the other day were unsuccessful, regrettably.]
Today is Father's Day and He's the daddy!
ReplyDeleteGeorgeous looking marrow!
So you need to carefully measure your marrow so that it fits the pan. Could you use a fish kettle?
ReplyDeleteYour recipe looks really good!
ReplyDeleteI read in a book once that a father carved his child's name on a small marrow and as the marrow grew so did the child's name. Could be an interesting thing to try!
ReplyDeleteThis looks great. I haven't left the air conditioner yet (which now doesn't seem to want to work well, sigh) but when I do I hope to get down to the garden and see how it has fared through yet another storm.
ReplyDeleteIt actually looks like a human tooth pattern! Sure you haven't been sampling the goodies on the vine Mark? ;-)
ReplyDeleteNever have pan size problems as I only eat zucchini! :-)
ReplyDeleteLovely meal Mark! Does marrow taste like zucchini, nutty?
ReplyDeleteDiana; the marrow cooked this way is quite soft, and it absorbs all the flavour of the Middle Eastern spices. To be honest, marrow on its own is rather bland! I also like it in a nice cheesy white sauce.
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