ROASTED BONE MARROW

It seems bone marrow is the big thing right now. Chris Macias of the Bee did an article in Wednesdays food section about it. I love bone marrow and I make it every once in a while at home. I found some Prather Ranch marrow bones at Sacramento Natural Foods in the freezer section. I found after that they are very hard to come by, they sell out as soon as they come in. The last time, I found them at the Ferry Building at the Prather Ranch store. I bought several bags and froze them. Since all the hoopala about bone marrow. I thought I'd get a bag out and prepare some. The recipe I kind of followed was the one by Fergus Henerson the guru of nose to tail eating. I loosely followed it, mainly for the roasting of the bones.

I have never been able to find the long bones, but maybe butchers will start carrying them with this new interest in bone marrow. It does make for a better seasoned bone marrow if the bone is split in half so the seasonings can get into the marrow as it cooks. With mine I just sprinkled a little salt on mine after spreading it on some bread.
The way I cooked/roasted the bones was to rub the bones with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper all over.

In a screaming hot pan I seared the bones quickly. I laid the bones on it's side (you don't want all the marrow melting out) in a baking pan and put into a hot 400 degree oven. The bones need to roast just until the marrow is cooked through and you no longer see red. If it is cooked too long the marrow will all melt and run out and all you will have if a pool of oil in the pan. Actually what oil is in the pan can be sopped up with bread. That's it, easy and delicious. It's not something you want to eat often, I can imagine what it does to the arteries.
If your not a fan of eating marrow in this way the bones make excellent rich stock for soups and stews or there are several recipes using the marrow for sauces.
Try them at home if you can find the bones, if you go to Ella be sure to have them there, they are the best I've found in any restaurant.
Bon Appetite!