a rockin Wednesday night...

Now that a new semester is upon me, Wednesday is my new free day. Therefore, Wednesday is my new favorite day. It's early enough in the week that I can rationalize not doing any reading for class yet, or lesson planning. I can just come home, catch up on my tv shows, and cook some dinner in peace. So throughout today, I was looking for dinner ideas for tonight. For some reason, everything just sounded kind of... boring. I even looked up Madame Julia Child's boeuf bourgignon. Still, I was uninspired. I decided to just go to the grocery store and let something jump out at me.

I was perusing the meats at Star when it happened. Bone marrows. That's when I realized I knew exactly what I wanted to eat for dinner: party food! Sanne looked slightly apprehensive at first glance at the raw bones I excitedly shoved up in her facial, but she had an appetizer-type recipe she'd been wanting to try as well. And so the scene was set: Wednesday night tapas it is!

Just before Christmas, my friend Elizabeth and I were feeling brave one night at Russell House (a favorite Harvard Square haunt), and decided to try the roasted marrow together. It was amazing! Someone I know referred to it as "meat butter" (was that you, Whitney?), and I would have to agree. It's like buttuh, y'all. Fo real. So anyway, I saw it on the shelf, and it's super cheap! This package had four ~2" thick bones, for $2.60. AND it had a $1.50 coupon on it! E and I had spent something like $10 for one bone! I'm sold. No matter that I hadn't the slightest clue what to do with it...

After a quick google, I sprinkled the marrow with some sea salt, minced garlic and chopped parsley, and roasted it in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, I made some white truffle mushroom bruschetta, and Sanne made bacon-wrapped jalapenos stuffed with blueberry goat cheese.

Yeah, I know. And we're both single. Go figure.

The mushroom bruschetta was pretty simple. I chopped a package of white button mushrooms and sauteed them in some olive oil, a splash of white wine and about a teaspoon of white truffle oil. I added lemon zest, minced garlic, parsley, and some shredded parmesan cheese. I covered it and let it simmer for about 10 minutes or so.

While this was happening, Sanne was making her own magic on the opposite counter. She sliced and de-seeded some jalapeno peppers, smeared their insides with a blueberry-goat cheese from Trader's, and wrapped them with bacon.

She roasted/broiled some and grilled a few. Both ways were incredible, fyi.

Here's the marrow...
I guess if you've never had it before, or are easily sketched out by foods, these pictures might not be too appetizing. But to quote Love Actually: to me, they are [beautiful].

We also got some marinated olives (my fave) and a blue cheese, which turned out to be one of the best I've tasted. Blue cheeses tend to be a little too strong or pungent for my taste, but this one was perfect. It went especially well with the Chardonnay I bought from Eileen at Cardullo's awhile back.

they look like little volcanoes

cheese knife from KT, dish from an antique store outside Yonkers 

meat butter!

T.G.I.Wednesday.

We didn't eat all four bones, and we have no dogs, so I'm making beef stock from the rest. I'll let y'all know how that goes. How was your hump day? Have you ever tried bone marrow? What are your thoughts on the subject?

If you're still unconvinced about eating the marrow of bones, check out these sites:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/bone-marrow-recipe/#axzz1lqi2sGtd

http://blogs.ajc.com/food-and-more/2011/09/23/roasting-bone-marrow-at-home/

and this one is really good:  http://www.thehungrymouse.com/2010/02/17/roasted-marrow-bones/
I wish I had seen it earlier, I definitely would have made her parsley salad to go with. Next time...
 

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