Marrow: the veg that time forgot

The vegetable marrow (a type of squash, for American readers :D) is a veg that used to be a popular choice at the table. This is because it's nutritious, easy to grow, a good size to feed the large family, and lends itself to a range of different cooking options.



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.

Italian Vegetable Soup

2 cups sliced celery
1 large can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 green peppers, diced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large zucchini, peeled and sliced thinly
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 tsp.crushed oregano
2 to 3 pounds mild Italian sausage
2 cans or 1 quart crushed tomatoes
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
small pasta (optional) (I use risoni)

Break up the sausage and brown in a fry pan. Add the celery and cook for 10 minutes. Drain off the grease. Put all the ingredients into a large pot and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

*Perfect* in the crockpot - simmer on low heat during the day while you are at work to be served for dinner - if you're crockpotting and the celery is young, there is no need to cook it in the fry-pan first.

This makes a big amount - perfect to feed the family for a few meals, or, to freeze for later.

Serving Suggestions:

• With fresh crusty bread
• Make buttered toast "soldiers" for kids to dip in
• I prefer to serve this as a main meal, but you could serve a small bowl as a starter if you preferred, as a prelude to a light, salad-y meal.
  

How to: Cream the butter and the sugar

A lot of baking requires "creaming butter and sugar" together. So, what does this *mean*? And *how* is it done?

"Creaming" the butter and the sugar means mixing or blending the two ingredients together until they take on a light, creamy texture. The purpose is to incorporate lots of air bubbles into the mixture, which ensures that your baked cake will be light and fluffy, and will rise nicely.

Food Processor Method:
Many recipes indicate that this process ought to be done with a food processor, and indeed it can be. Chop your butter into 1 inch cubes, add your sugar, and blend or pulse on low speed, using short bursts, until the two ingredients form the creamy paste we are after.

To cream by hand:
Never let anyone tell you you *need* a food processor to do this (or any other baking task, come to that.). Some people like to use a pastry cutter or a knife for this process, but here at LastPenny we prefer to use a heavy tablespoon (the oldfashioned serving kind) in a heavy old crockery bowl.

Place the sugar in your bowl, and cut the butter into slices - about 2 inches square, and each slice a quarter inch thick makes for the easiest to mix, I find, but you can use any dimension.

If using margarine, simply scoop out required amount and place in bowl.

You *can* do this with hard butter straight from the fridge, but it is much much easier and faster to do it with softened butter.

The *best* way to soften butter is to allow it to come naturally to room temperature. But it's rare we have the time to wait for that! Instead, you can place the amount of butter you want in a glass jug or bowl, and stand the container in a pan of warm water for 5 minutes. You can leave it longer if the butter is not yet soft enough, but keep an eye on it - you don't want it to start melting. Alternately, you can soften it in the microwave by giving it ten second bursts, checking after each.

Important: don't melt the butter at this stage.

Then, rub or cut the butter into the sugar. I like to "squash" the butter between my heavy spoon and heavy bowl, thus rubbing it into the sugar this way. After a few minutes, the mixing should get easier and you'll get the nice fluffy texture we're talking about!

TOP TIP: You can substitute margarine for butter, and use your choice of sugar - plain white, brown, raw, etc - and achieve the same or a similar result.

Hints From My Great-Grandmother's Cookbook

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had a cookbook belonging to my great grandmother. Today I want to share a few excerpts (hints, rather than recipes) from it.

Let me start with the comfortable, homely words from the foreword:

All recipes are simple and practical.

No expensive ingredients are used and all can be bought in any New Zealand town.

Special attention has been paid to utilising odds and ends of vegetables, fish, meat, stale bread and cakes etc in many appetising ways.

A young housewife following through with the recipes given here can order her household without one ounce of waste in food.

Cookbooks like this one (Una Carter's Famous National Cookery Book, 7th ed, no year or publisher given on cover or fly) are *really* the way to find recipes to help you save. Look for old cookbooks written before World War II; or at least before 1960 - these are the recipes and tips which will really help you save.

Hints from the Recipe book:

• Use a wooden spoon for stirring
• Sieve flour for lightness
• Use breakfast cups to measure a "cup" in recipes
• Use old magazines as pot stands
• Keep lids on pans when cooking soups and stews
• Measure all ingredients before commencing to mix
• Have all tins greased or prepared before commencing to mix

I'll bring you more excerpts and of course a few recipes from this book as well as many of my favorites from other sources. Old-fashioned notions still have a lot of merit, even coming up to a century later :)

Tips: Grocery shopping

Shop at discount stores: For New Zealand, this means Pak N Save, The Warehouse Extra, cash 'n carries such as Moore Wilson's. The Mad Butcher is an excellent source for meat, and also for petfood!!

Look for advertised specials and buy in bulk eg New World coupons, Foodtown Wine Sales

Buy fresh produce from orchards or growers - you can often achieve savings of up to 50%

Buy fresh produce seasonally.

Be flexible. If broccoli is $3.00 per head, substitute cauliflower, silver beet etc.

Check prices and buy what is on special.