Marrow Pickle From Vale House Kitchen

It's cold it's getting darker of an evening, basically we're all considering hibernating about now.  The upsides are eating lots of comfort food.  One of my favourite things to do of a dark evening is open a bottle of red and consume multiple cheeses. My cheese nights are some what legendary to those of whom have sampled them, the last I think consisted of 10 different cheeses to sample from and all the nibbles that go with such a board of delights. Anyway one of the recipes I learned on my course at Vale House Kitchen was marrow pickle, now marrow is not really one of those vegetables that people get all excited about, or even seem to think about in passing, however this little recipe might change all that.

You will need (makes 1 jar - easily multiplied for stockpiling or presents)
1 inch round chunk of marrow
1 small chilli
1 tsp pickling spice
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup caster sugar

De-seed and cut of some of the tough marrow skin but leaving about a third then slice into 1 centimetre chunks, then salt the marrow and leave in a bowl for 10 minutes. Afterwards squeeze the marrow slightly to get rid of any excess water and leave it on a clean tea towel. Slice the chilli in to small rounds.  Meanwhile heat up a pan and pop in the sugar and cider vinegar, let that dissolve and then pop in all the spices and chilli, simmer until the liquid has reduced by a third.

pickling marrows

Continue to cook the marrow until tender but still crunchy, we popped a lid on top of the frying pan to help and once the liquid has thickened spoon into a sterilized jar, this should keep unopened for about 3 months. I ate most of mine the following evening with a mature cheddar cheese, it was so much better than I could have even dreamed, crunchy and with a little kick.

almost ready to be sealed

inside the pickle jar

So I urge you all to give marrow a chance, this recipe will change your mind and will really help with saving the pennies in the run up to December. Let me know how you get on with Tim's recipe and what you pair it with. I am going to give it another go in a week or so and try and convert more people to marrow. Next blog posts will be on afternoon tea at Cox and Baloney and a curry at the Jubo Raj.