Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Marrow Bones

This weekend I decided to take advantage of odds and ends in my pantry to cook a Halloween-themed meal celebrating pumpkin-carving and other October chores (on the night itself, I'm lucky if I can get a PB&J into us all) My recent score at Ed & Erv's seemed like a natural for a spooky occasion. I also happened to have a very pumpkin-y looking Kabocha squash (on sale at H-Mart) which I thought would make a nice accompaniment.

While I've never had marrow bones as a main course, our family typically fights over the scraps of marrow in soup bones or other preps, so the idea of us each getting as much as we wanted was really appealing. Googling around, I found this suggestion on preparation, a simple roasting process. I defrosted the bones a little in the nuke-u-lator, tossed them in a roasting pan at 450 as directed - though not standing on end; they were turned once and roasted until a skewer inserted inside met no resistance. I started the Kabocha in the microwave and finished it in the same oven as the bones, opening and cleaning it about half-way through, and then drizzling it with honey and a sprinkling of ginger.



Somewhere in there, I managed to bake off a baguette from our stash of refrigerated dough, and made the parsley "salad" as an accompaniment. We used a filet knife and a chopstick to dig out the goodness from the bones, spread it on baguette slices topped with the parsley-lemon sauce and sea salt. Though it was delicious, it was so rich that none of us was able to finish a whole one, even with the shallots and lemon to cut it - I wonder if that could have been improved by roasting a bit more to render out a bit more fat. We also realized that this dish demands to be accompanied by a rich red wine (which we didn't have at the time.) The kabocha squash was an excellent side dish, blessedly fat-free but rich enough in flavor to compete with the unctuous marrow.

Extremely spoooky close-up!

It's funny how there can, indeed, be too much of a good thing: I don't know that I would do this as a meal again - but if we'd had them as an appetizer, they'd be wonderful.

Michelle,

Your son is fortunate to have such a creative Mom. It will be years before he realizes how special his upbringing has been.

Regards,

Hi,

FYI - I just stopped by a farmstand to buy an ambercup squash (aka amber squash) that is supposed to be cooked similar to Kabocha. Sun Wah BBQ makes a soup inside a Kabocha shell.

Regards,

Thank you, Cathy! We had quite a bit of squash left over, and I think I'm going to use it to make a "pumpkin" pie. It's not dissimilar to acorn or butternut in flavor, but the dense, smooth texture is what really stood out for me. I'll be curious to hear what your squash is like, let me know!

Mhays wrote:

I love this picture! For some reason it makes me think of a tiki bar.

Thanks, Joe! I was kind of wishing that I had access to dry ice, which would have gone even further in that direction....

I'll have you know that I've just gotten done chasing down marrow bones and baking a loaf of bread. Tonight I'm going to decide for myself if there is indeed too much of a good thing. Thanks for the inspiration!

Mhays wrote:The kabocha squash was an excellent side dish, blessedly fat-free but rich enough in flavor to compete with the unctuous marrow.

Mhays,

I've done marrow bones a few times myself, always following Fergus Henderson's recipe.

Love the spooky picture, kabocha squash an inspired accompaniment.



Enjoy,
Gary

Gwiv,

My favorite marrow preparation came from John Besh's restaurant in New Orleans, where the bones had been slow-smoked for 12 hours, then served on toasts with a spicy peach marmalade of some kind. That sounds right up your alley.

Kenny

Kennyz wrote:My favorite marrow preparation came from John Besh's restaurant in New Orleans, where the bones had been slow-smoked for 12 hours, then served on toasts with a spicy peach marmalade of some kind. That sounds right up your alley.

Sure as hell does, thanks for passing along the idea.

Cathy2 wrote:Sun Wah BBQ makes a soup inside a Kabocha shell.

They also stuff it with pork belly and call it a vegetable side dish. We'll be having it at the GNR Awards Dinner next Monday.