what to do with a marrow...

Two weeks after placing a winning bid at the Harvest Festival Auction for a fabulous box of vegetables I still had a marrow sitting around waiting to be used.

My options:

• use it as a doorstop
• display it creatively as a seasonal decorative ornament
• do nothing and leave it until it shrivels / goes mouldy (often the most likely option) 
• make some jam or chutney
• do something more interesting with it!

I went for the last option.

It was a biggish marrow, and not wanting to make stuffed marrow I searched online for new and unusual recipes and found 'Marrow Bake' & 'Marrow Cake'.  So for no other reason than I liked the fact that they rhymed - that's what I made.

Both recipes required grated marrow - so after 40 minutes with a hand grater this is what I ended up with...exciting stuff eh?  Before starting to cook with it I tipped the grated marrow onto a tea towel and squeezed it to remove excess moisture before weighing it for the recipes.

Marrow Cake - enough for two 1lb loaves.
3 eggs
250ml vegetable oil
400g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
375g plain flour
3 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp grated nutmeg
                                              225g grated marrow

1. Beat the eggs until fluffy then add the oil, sugar and vanilla extract.
2. Mix in the flour, spices and baking powder.
3. Finally add the grated marrow before sharing it between the loaf tins.
4. Bake  in a preheated oven - 170 C / 325 F / Gas 3 for 45 minutes.

The loaf tastes lovely, is quite moist and freezes well.  

Marrow Bake 

    100g plain flour                               1/2 tbsp chopped oregano

    1 tbsp baking powder                     1 tbsp chopped parsley           

    1 onion, chopped                           1 tbsp chopped basil

    450g grated marrow                       1 tsp caster sugar 

    125ml olive oil                                1 tsp salt

    4 eggs                                            50g grated Parmesan Cheese

Oven temp - 180 C / 350F / Gas 4

1. In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cheese, parsley, oregano and basil.
2. Add the eggs, oil, onion and marrow and mix well.
3. Pour into a 20 x 30cm baking dish and bake for 30 - 35 minutes until golden.

If you like frittata then you'll enjoy this! 

It tastes great warm or cold and you can use dried herbs instead of fresh if that's what you have to hand.


These are both recipes that I'll bake again - but I might get someone else to do the grating next time!

And as a last thought...are marrows one of the last truly seasonal vegetables?  They're never in shops outside of the UK growing season (or not that I've noticed) and I'm pretty sure you can't buy it frozen.  

Links for the online recipes:

Marrow Cake
Marrow Bake