The salt soaking removes the blood from the bones and marrow but it is not necessary to soak them over night as some recipes suggest. Use regular table salt for the soaking; no point in wasting a good sea salt for that.The marrow bones can be cut in rounds or in across the center and you can use beef, veal or lamb bones. For me lamb bones have deepest richest taste and they never fail to satisfy.
If you have access to Maldon sea salt then your bones will truly be sublime!
Roasted Marrow Bones
6 marrow bones
table Salt
½ unsalted butter - room temperature
4 large cloves of garlic peeled and grated
1 small shallot grated
sea salt and fresh ground pepper2 tablespoons chopped fresh italian parsley
12 – ½ inch slices of fresh Ciabatta bread
Thyme Infused Starfruit jam
Place the marrow bones in a large bowl cover them with water and add 2 tablespoons table salt and stir. Let soak 1 hour. Dump the water rinse the bones and repeat the soaking step for one more hour or over night in the refrigerator.
After soaking remove bones from water and rinse well and pat dry.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
Lay the marrow bones out on a baking pan with the wide side down.( If the marrow bones are cut length wise lay them in the pan with the marrow side up.)
Mix the butter, garlic and shallot together
place a teaspoon of the butter mixture on top of each bone
Use the remaining butter mixture to coat the bread slices
Put the marrow bones into the oven and bake for 15 – 20 minutes. This depends on the shape and seize of your marrow bones. They are done when the center just begins to sizzle and the marrow begins to pull away from the sides of the bone.
Remove from oven and sprinkle generously with sea salt, pepper and parsley.
Place the bread on a baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 5 minutes or until just golden.
Serve the marrow with the toasted garlic bread and with thyme infused starfruit jam.