Chinese stuffed marrow

I was craving some Oriental flavours last night, so, with half a marrow left in my fridge and a small amount of pork mince in the freezer, I thought I’d do some experimenting.

I’ve only rediscovered marrows very recently. It was one of my few intense dislikes as a child. God knows why, as it isn’t particularly strong-flavoured. But when I saw some big fat ones at Borough Market last autumn for 80p each, the frugal cook in me decided I should give it another go.

I’ve been cooking this highly flavoursome Nigel Slater recipe of pork mince with baked marrow quite a lot, so used it as the basis of my meal last night. After hollowing out the end of the marrow, I filled it with a stuffing of pork mince, onion, mushrooms, grated carrot, garlic, chilli, ginger, soy sauce, fresh coriander and a dash of sesame oil, then put it in a casserole dish with a lid. A little liquid was added to the bottom of the pot, and, with the lid on, it was sort of steam-baked for about 20 minutes.

The result was a yummy combination of sweet marrow, fresh gingery herbiness and a good hot kick of chilli. Another success in the Bare Cupboard Laboratory!

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