Chef Thomas
Anglesey Eggs
Eggs bedded into leek-flecked mash under a blanket of sharp cheese sauce, baked until golden and bubbling. A Welsh supper dish that proves the simplest things are usually the best.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Stuffed Marrow
Created by Chef Thomas
A fat garden marrow, halved and filled with savoury mushrooms, rice, and herbs, baked until the cheese goes golden and the kitchen smells like late summer settling into something warm and good.
Main Dishes
British
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
20 min
Active Time
1 hr cook•1 hr 20 min total
Yield4 servings
Late August, and the marrows have arrived. Not gracefully, not in modest quantities, but with the blunt insistence of something that grew while you weren't looking. One day the courgette plant is producing slim, mannerly fruits. The next, there's a pale green torpedo hiding under the leaves that weighs more than the cat.
This is what you do with it. Halve it, scoop out the seeds, fill it with something savoury and good, and let the oven do the thinking. The filling here is mushrooms and rice and tomatoes, cooked down with garlic and thyme until it smells like the sort of evening where nobody checks the time. No meat. The mushrooms give you that deep, savoury warmth, and the tomatoes bring sweetness and body. A handful of grated Cheddar over the top goes golden and crisp while the marrow softens underneath into something almost silky.
The whole thing takes about an hour in the oven, which is exactly the right amount of time to set the table, pour a glass of something, and let the kitchen fill with the smell of a meal that's looking after itself. We're only making dinner.
I wrote it down in the notebook last September: marrow, mushrooms, rain on the window. Some recipes record the weather as much as the food.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
marrow
Quantity
1 large, about 1.5kg
olive oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
onion
Quantity
1 large
finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
2 cloves
finely chopped
chestnut mushrooms
Quantity
250g
finely chopped
chopped tomatoes
Quantity
400g tin
cooked rice
Quantity
150g
fresh thyme
Quantity
a few sprigs
leaves picked
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
a small bunch
roughly chopped
mature Cheddar
Quantity
60g
grated
fresh breadcrumbs (optional)
Quantity
25g
salt and black pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| marrow | 1 large, about 1.5kg |
| olive oil | 2 tablespoons |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 large |
| garlicfinely chopped | 2 cloves |
| chestnut mushroomsfinely chopped | 250g |
| chopped tomatoes | 400g tin |
| cooked rice | 150g |
| fresh thymeleaves picked | a few sprigs |
| flat-leaf parsleyroughly chopped | a small bunch |
| mature Cheddargrated | 60g |
| fresh breadcrumbs (optional) | 25g |
| salt and black pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Large roasting tin
- •Wide frying pan or sauté pan
- •Large spoon for scooping seeds
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the marrow
Set the oven to 190C/170C fan. Cut the marrow in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds and the soft, fibrous middle with a spoon. You want a generous hollow in each half, a boat waiting to be filled. Lay the halves cut-side up in a roasting tin, rub them with a little olive oil, and season well with salt and pepper. Put them in the oven for fifteen minutes while you make the filling. This head start softens the flesh and means everything finishes at the same time.
Choose a marrow that feels heavy for its size and is no longer than your forearm. The giants that win prizes at the village show are impressive but watery. A medium marrow has better flavour and a firmer texture. - 2
Build the filling
Warm the remaining olive oil in a wide frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook gently for eight to ten minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and stir it through for a minute, just until it smells sweet rather than sharp. Now the mushrooms. They'll release their water and hiss in the pan. Let them cook without stirring too much, five or six minutes, until the moisture has gone and they've started to turn golden at the edges. This is where the savouriness lives. Don't rush it.
Chop the mushrooms as finely as your patience allows. You want them to almost disappear into the filling, giving it a rich, savoury depth without any actual meat. - 3
Bring it together
Pour in the tinned tomatoes and let everything simmer for ten minutes or so, stirring now and then, until the sauce has thickened and the pan smells deeply of tomato and thyme. Stir in the cooked rice, the thyme leaves, and most of the parsley, keeping a little back for later. Season well. Taste it. The filling should be savoury and full and just slightly more seasoned than you think it needs, because the marrow will absorb some of that as it bakes.
- 4
Fill and bake
Take the marrow halves from the oven and spoon the filling generously into each hollow, pressing it down gently and mounding it slightly. Scatter the grated Cheddar and breadcrumbs over the top. Return to the oven for forty to forty-five minutes. You're looking for the marrow to be completely tender when you press its side with a spoon, the filling bubbling at the edges, and the cheese topping gone golden and crisp in patches. Let it sit for five minutes before serving. Scatter the remaining parsley over the top. A green salad alongside and some bread to mop up the juices is all you need.
Chef Tips
- •Leftover rice is ideal here. If you're cooking it fresh, boil 75g of white rice in salted water, drain, and spread it on a plate to cool. Warm, sticky rice clumps in the filling. Cold rice keeps its shape and each grain stays distinct.
- •If you want this to be vegan, leave off the cheese and scatter the breadcrumbs with a good drizzle of olive oil instead. It won't be quite the same, but it'll still be good. The filling does the real work.
- •This is a forgiving recipe. Swap the mushrooms for cooked lentils, add a handful of wilted spinach, throw in whatever herbs the garden has going. A recipe is a conversation, not a contract. The marrow doesn't mind what you put inside it.
- •If you find yourself with a truly enormous marrow, the kind a neighbour has left on your doorstep like a foundling, cut it into thick rings instead of halves. Scoop the seeds from each ring and stuff them the same way. They bake faster and make neater portions.
Advance Preparation
- •The filling can be made up to a day ahead and kept refrigerated. Bring it back to room temperature before stuffing the marrow, or add ten minutes to the baking time.
- •Leftovers reheat well in a moderate oven for twenty minutes, covered loosely with foil. The marrow softens further and the filling almost melts into it. Some things improve with a second day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 440g)
Calories
280 calories
Total Fat
13 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
8 g
Cholesterol
15 mg
Sodium
650 mg
Total Carbohydrates
32 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
11 g
Protein
10 g
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