Eatmania » marrows

Marrows: the pear-shaped ones

Olivia — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:35:05 +0000

Have you ever seen these pear-shaped variety of the long marrows?

This morning a friend of mine gave me a couple of these never-seen-before marrows and I decided to stuff them up and cook them in a vegetable broth. Here is the recipe and the result:

Ingredients for 4 persons:

2 pear-shaped marrows
250g freshly minced beef
1 egg
2 tblsp grated parmesan
1 tblsp chopped parsley
2 carrots
1 celery stalk
2 ripe tomatoes
salt & pepper

Cut the top part of the marrow (this will be used as a lid to close the marrow after it has been stuffed), scoop the inside pulp and keep some of it aside. In a bowl mix well the minced beef, parmesan, parsley, some finely chopped marrow pulp and the egg. Season with salt and pepper and stuff the marrows with the resultant mixture. Secure the marrows with their own lid and tighten with a couple of toothpicks.

In a large deep pan pour 1.5 ltrs boiling water, the roughly chopped carrots and tomatoes, the celery stalk and the stuffed marrows. Bring to a rolling boil, add salt and keep cooking on low heat for about 45 minutes until marrow is tender.

Cut the marrows in half and serve them in the vegetable broth with some freshly squeezed lemon juice.

To eat or not to eat: Flowers?!

Olivia — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:05:22 +0000

You may find it strange or repulsive but in Italy this is a delicate ingredient cooked in various ways! I am referring to the Fiori di zucchine (the flowers of the zucchini or marrows).

It is not as easy as in Italy to find these flowers in Malta since they are not really appreciated and used in our cooking. Yet, they are available – attached to the so popular marrows we find all year round at our fruit & vegetable vendors. So if you are interested in procuring some and follow this recipe find someone who grows marrows and ask them to keep the flowers for you. Make sure they are fresh since they have a very short life span – only 1 or 2 days.

Courgette flowers filled with ricotta

Serves 4

Ingredients:

16 flowers
250gr ricotta
2 eggs
1tblsp parmesan
1 tblsp breadcrumbs
salt & pepper

Process:

Clean the flowers very carefully and remove the pistils.
Wash them briefly and pat them with paper towels.
Prepare the mixture of ricotta, eggs, parmesan, salt & pepper.
Fill the flowers with the mixture; place them in an oven dish, scatter breadcrumbs on top, add some salt and olive oil.
Cook in a pre-heated oven of 180 degrees Celsius for 7 minutes.