They're still available in supermarkets in season; and even more readily available at your local fruit & veg or sometimes at the chinese grocery.
To grow your own, plant zucchini (summer squash, I believe? comments to enlighten me are welcome!) plants and fertilise well (our own choice is horse or chicken manure! gleaned from a local riding school or horse paddock, for free preferably!)
The fruit will grow readily to large marrows, usually yielding almost more than you can eat.
PLain, steamed marrow is one of the least exciting foods you can eat, I have to say, and sometimes the flesh can have a slightly bitter flavour. In the upcoming weeks, LastPenny will bring you a host of marrow recipes, but for today I will leave you with a simple tip.
To prevent marrow bitterness and tenderise the flesh:
Cut the marrow in half lengthwise and core. Leave the skin on, but perforate gently in places with a fork.
Sprinkle the flesh-side of each half liberally with table salt. Wrap each half separately in tin foil, and leave in cool place (pantry is better than fridge, but if climate is hot refridgerate - food safety first) for an hour.
Rinse the salt away and leave marrow on paper towels to dry.
MMMMM - tasty, sweet marrow, ready for roasting, stuffing, or your choice of preparation.
2 comments:
Thanks for the information. Zucchini is my favourite vegetable and I try hard to stuff it to my children too.
I stir fry sliced zucchini, sliced tomatoes , onions, bell peppers and then layer them in a baking dish, add salt and pepper and pour a tablespoon of oil over. I Bake it for about 15 minutes. It's really delicious.
Zucchini is such a tasty and versatile vegetable, I love to cook with it. It's such a shame it's bigger cousin the marrow is rarely seen on our tables these days.
Thanks for sharing your zucchini-cooking tip - I'll have to give that a go myself :)
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