{Easy Recipes} Roasted Bone Marrow

In the spring of 2007, we took our first overseas trip together to Paris, France.  We had rented an apartment in the 7th arrondissement. It was a small studio apartment, but it had a balcony overlooking both the Eiffel tower and Les Invalides.  We loved staying in this neighborhood - buying groceries at the supermarket, finding the crunchiest baguettes at the bakery, and drinking the tastiest bottle of wine (that only cost us a few Euros). One of our favorite memories of the trip was our final meal. It was at a neighborhood restaurant where we seemed to be the only tourists there.  Since I spoke some French, I ordered for both of us. We had only been dating for 6 months so I wasn't sure if we were completely food compatible.  When the plate of bone marrow I ordered was served, he smiled and dug right in. I knew we were meant to be.

Since then, we have enjoyed bone marrow with bread crumbs in Philly, bone marrow with pasta at Marea, and bone marrow with scallop crudo nearby on the UWS.  But that bone marrow dish in Paris will always be my favorite.

Though we have enjoyed bone marrow dishes in many restaurants, we had yet to make it at home. So when I found some beef marrow bones at the grocery store (just under $4 for almost 2 lbs), I knew what our appetizer would be for our Valentine's Day dinner last night.

Roasted Bone Marrow (adapted from the NY Times)

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 lbs of beef marrow bones, cut into 3 pieces

1 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley

2 shallots, minced

2 t capers, rinsed

1 1/2 T extra virgin olive oil

2 t fresh lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

lemon zest

1 baguette, sliced

French fleur de sel

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Stand bones on a foil-lined baking pan.  Cook until marrow is soft and has begun to separate from the bone, about 15-20 minutes. (Stop before marrow begins to drizzle out.)

2. Combine parsley, shallots and capers in small bowl.  Whisk together olive oil and lemon juice and drizzle dressing over parsley mixture until leaves are just coated.

3. Place roasted bones on a long serving plate. Add parsley salad on top and around the bones. Sprinkle lemon zest on top of the salad.

4. To eat, spread marrow and parsley on a slice of baguette. Add some fleur de sel on top of the marrow and enjoy.

The roasted bone marrow was very easy to make (and I thought it went well with our champagne). We loved its fatty juiciness mixed with the bright and fresh parsley salad.  We'll definitely make this recipe again - and hopefully we'll find our way back to Paris someday.