Bill W. Brazil Blog: Roasted Bone Marrow with Rosemary and Garlic

Saturday, October 13, 2018

Roasted Bone Marrow with Rosemary and Garlic

Bone marrow is an important supplemental food that’s easy to love—if you love fatty, savory treats, that is. And bone marrow is a treat, with its over-the-top richness, meaty flavor and fatty, creamy texture. It’s delicious fuel for the body, brimming with vitamins and minerals.

Bone marrow is easy to prepare, too. It needs nothing more than a sprinkle of salt (and maybe some fresh herbs) to reach perfection in the oven.

Roasted marrow is good enough to eat right out of the bone with a spoon, which is how it’s usually served. Forget about those fancy marrow spoons; instead, ask your butcher for marrow bones that are cut lengthwise (also called “canoe cut”). This cut exposes the marrow and makes it much easier to scoop out. Grass-fed is best, of course, both for flavor and nutrients. Bone marrow can be served with a green salad on the side, to cut the richness, and is also quite tasty poured over roasted vegetables.

Servings: 4

Time in the Kitchen: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 marrow bones, cut lengthwise (canoe cut)
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary (5 ml)
12 small garlic cloves
Salt

Instructions:

Recipe Note: Some recipes recommend soaking marrow bones in brine (about 2 quarts cold water and ½ cup kosher salt) overnight before roasting. This cleans the bones, removing some of the blood and making the bones look nicer. However, if you buy high-quality, grass-fed bones, brining doesn’t seem to make much of a difference in the flavor or quality of the roasted marrow. Blood spots that come to the surface of the marrow before you cook the bones are perfectly normal, and don’t need to be wiped away.

Preheat oven to 425 °F/218 °C.

Place the bones, marrow side up, on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet. Season the marrow generously with salt. Sprinkle rosemary over the marrow.

Rub any loose papery skin off the cloves of garlic, but don’t peel the cloves. Trim off both ends of the cloves of garlic. Rub the cloves with a little bit of oil. Scatter the garlic cloves around the bones.

Roast 25 minutes. The marrow should be very soft and warm all the way through and bubbling a little.

Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their peels. Drop the cloves in with the marrow, and eat with a spoon.

Bonus Recipe: Bone Marrow “Butter”

A great idea for any extra you have left over—bone marrow “butter. Just let the bones cool in the fridge, then scrape out the marrow and herbs into a bowl. Whip for 2 minutes.