Fig, feta & olive pesto stuffed marrow

Ingredients 1 Marrow, feta, 1 fig, balsamic glaze, Basil oil, 30g basil, 30g kamalata   olives,1/2 clove garlic, 30g parmigiano, salt.

If you let a courgette keep growing you end up with a marrow - a juicy, fresh and delicious marrow that is perfect for stuffing with something rich and flavoursome.


1) Wash the marrow thoroughly and cut off the ends. Slice the marrow in half lengthways and then depending on the length of the marrow cut in half sideways. The average marrow will give you four pieces suitable for stuffing.


2) Using a spoon or a flexible filleting knife, remove the core where you may see seeds developing like a melon. For future reference, these seeds are edible, but the flesh you remove from the marrow centre can be discarded for this recipe.


3) Put the marrow pieces on a baking tray and roast them at 200 degrees for 30 minutes.



4) Genovese style pesto is incredibly fine and involves pulverising the basil literally one leaf at a time in your mortar and pestle - if you don't have the patience then you could use a blender but nothing will release the basil juice and create that silky Genovese texture like the traditional method. 


5) Once the basil is crushed to a fine pulp, add finely diced kamalata olives, minced garlic and parmeggian. Add a glug of basil oil until it has reached the desired consistency.


6) Rub a teaspoon of pesto onto each piece of marrow and crumble with feta and quarters of fig. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes and serve, drizzled with balsamic glaze.

Pork stuffed marrow

Ingredients    1 Marrow, 300g sausage meat, 1 leek, 20g parmigiano, 1 tablespoon butter

Serves: 2 Preparation: 40 minutes


If you let a courgette keep growing you end up with a marrow - a juicy, fresh and delicious marrow that is perfect for stuffing with something rich and flavoursome.



1) Wash the marrow thoroughly and cut off the ends. Slice the marrow in half lengthways and then depending on the length of the marrow cut in half sideways. The average marrow will give you four pieces suitable for stuffing.


2) Using a spoon or a flexible filleting knife, remove the core where you may see seeds developing like a melon. For future reference, these seeds are edible, but the flesh you remove from the marrow centre can be discarded for this recipe.


3) Put the marrow pieces on a baking tray and roast them at 200 degrees for 30 minutes.


4) Finely chop the leek and sautee in a little butter for 2-3 minutes.


5) Combine the sausage meat with the leek and half of the finely grated parmeggian and stuff the marrow pieces. Sprinkle with the remaining parmeggian and bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees.

Bolognaise stuffed marrow

Ingredients Quorn mince (or beef or lamb mince), passata tomatoes, 1 white onion, basil oil, butter, basil, oregano, parsley, garlic, red wine, marrow, parmigiano.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 35 minutes
If you let a courgette keep growing you end up with a marrow - a juicy, fresh and delicious marrow that is perfect for stuffing with something heady like my bolognaise.

1) Wash the marrow thoroughly and cut off the ends. Slice the marrow in half lengthways and then depending on the length of the marrow cut in half sideways. The average marrow will give you four pieces suitable for stuffing.

2) Using a spoon or a flexible filleting knife, remove the core where you may see seeds developing like a melon. For future reference, these seeds are edible, but the flesh you remove from the marrow centre can be discarded for this recipe.

3) Put the marrow pieces on a baking tray along with a whole bulb of garlic and roast them both for 30 minutes.

4) To make the bolognaise: Finely dice one white onion and sautee in a tablespoon of basil oil and a teaspoon of butter until it has completely softened. Add a glass of red wine, some finely chopped basil, oregano and parsley and stir through.

5) If you are making this with meat - brown the mince and strain off all of the meat juices before adding it to the pan. If you are making this with Quorn - add the Quorn mince from frozen and stir through.

6) Add the passata tomatoes and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Leave to simmer on a low heat until the garlic has been roasted - once roasted, it can be squeezed from the skin like a puree - mince the garlic in a press to ensure it can be evenly stirred through.

7) Spoon the bolognaise onto the baked marrow pieces and sprinkle freshly grated parmeggian over the top. Bake for a further 5 minutes in the oven and serve sprinkled with freshly topped parsley.