Marrows: the pear-shaped ones

Have you ever seen these pear-shaped variety of the long marrows?

This morning a friend of mine gave me a couple of these never-seen-before marrows and I decided to stuff them up and cook them in a vegetable broth. Here is the recipe and the result:

Ingredients for 4 persons:

• 2 pear-shaped marrows
• 250g freshly minced beef
• 1 egg
• 2 tblsp grated parmesan
• 1 tblsp chopped parsley
• 2 carrots
• 1 celery stalk
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• salt & pepper

Cut the top part of the marrow (this will be used as a lid to close the marrow after it has been stuffed), scoop the inside pulp and keep some of it aside. In a bowl mix well the minced beef, parmesan, parsley, some finely chopped marrow pulp and the egg. Season with salt and pepper and stuff the marrows with the resultant mixture. Secure the marrows with their own lid and tighten with a couple of toothpicks.

In a large deep pan pour 1.5 ltrs boiling water, the roughly chopped carrots and tomatoes, the celery stalk and the stuffed marrows. Bring to a rolling boil, add salt and keep cooking on low heat for about 45 minutes until marrow is tender.

Cut the marrows in half and serve them in the vegetable broth with some freshly squeezed lemon juice.