Roast Bone Marrow with Parsley Salad, St John Style

While wandering randomly around a specialist food shop this afternoon and browsing the meat counter, I saw beef marrow bones.  It can be hard to find these in today’s modern, fillet-steak-eating-and-offal-hating world and they immediately made me reminisce about the bone marrow salad that I once had at St John several years ago and keep getting flashbacks of.  So I had to buy some.  And parsley, because I remembered that parsley had featured in the dish.

So I got home, got out our copy of Nose to Tail Eating and thankfully the recipe was in there.  It is simple in the extreme.  Heat up the oven to quite high (we did ours to 200 which is as high as the stupid thing will go) and roast the marrow bones for 20 minutes.  While this is going on, chop up your parsley.  But not too much.  The book says to chop it just enough to “discipline” it, which sounds a little risque.  Then add a sliced shallot, a few capers and dress with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil.  Also make some toast.

When the marrow bones are cooked, serve them with the parsley salad, toast and some coarse sea salt.  Spread some of the marrow on the toast, sprinkle with salt and top with the salad.  The marrow is gooey and rich and the toast is crunchy, with the parsley adding freshness and the capers, shallot and lemon juice cutting through the richness.  Delicious.