Still trying to use up those marrows!

Believe it or not, I'm still trying to use up the marrows that were growing on our courgette plants when we returned from vacation.  I've finally managed to get through two of them in the form of several meals but I decided to freeze the rest in order to do something with it and be able to use it later.  One marrow was enough for several servings, however, so I now have about 10 baggies with single (meal-size) servings of marrow chopped into cubes.  To make room for these, however, I needed to do something with the pumpkin that has been residing in there since January, so I decided to use some of the remaining marrow and the frozen pumpkin and make a soup.

Marrow and Pumpkin Soup

Half a big pot's worth of marrow chunks (deseeded, etc)

The other half of the pot worth of pumpkin chunks

1 large or 2 small onions

2 cloves garlic

Ground ginger, nutmeg and coriander seed

Mixed dried Provence herbs

Chicken or vegetable stock

Start by gently frying up the onion (diced) and the garlic (chopped) with the spices and herbs and S&P.  Add the chunks of marrows (can be pretty big as it will all get blitzed up after).  Now the skin was actually pretty tough on these, so we ended up having to strain the soup after we whizzed it up to get all the bits of skin out.  So alternatively you could peel the marrow chunks to begin with.  After these have started to cook down a bit, add the pumpkin chunks (I just put them straight in frozen) a handful at a time, then cover for it all to heat up (adding the frozen pumpkin will take the temperature down), stirring occasionally.  Once the heat has built back up, add hot stock or hot water and a stock cube, enough to cover everything, but leaving at least an inch below the top of the pot as a lot of water can come out of the pumpkin.  Leave to simmer until everything is tender, then use a food processor to whiz it up.  Strain if need be then return to the pan to rewarm if required and adjust the liquidity/seasoning (if too watery, simmer with the lid off to reduce a little).

We served it with freshly ground pepper and shredded Emmental cheese.  And apologies, I didn't get a photo, so here are some big puppy-dog eyes from Kali instead...

 

Oops, actually I just uploaded some pictures from my camera and saw that I did in fact take a photo while it was cooking (just no final 'plated' shot...)!

Comments

[Heiko]

I made a curried pumpkin soup today, which I think is quite a good way of freezing courgettes or pumpkins, i.e. as a ready made soup. I put a two-people portion in a cut-open tetra pack lined with a freezer bag. That way it makes a neat little rectangle using not too much space in the freezer.

[Laura]

Oh that is a really good idea to use a tetra pack! I will definitely be adopting that system! A while back I took advice from a book and actually froze the soup in the pan I planned to heat it up in (in a freezer bag), then once it is frozen you can remove the pan and the soup is in the shape of the pot for when you want to reheat. But it took up a lot of space being round, plus I'm not sure if that is very good for the pan!

[Sue]

I am similarly using and preserving my gluts of tomatoes. We had Marrow/courgette with everything for a while. Does it freeze well just cubed as is, or do you blanch it first.

Soon I will have over 20 huge pumpkins to find recipes for. I think we are going to be veggie shaped soon (and who wants to look like a pumpkin?).

Sue xx

[Laura]

I don't know, some squash have some pretty attractive curves going on... :)

Wow, good luck with those 20 pumpkins - we had two huge ones last year and struggled to get through them (as evidenced by the fact that we're just now eating the last of them!). Don't know if you've seen it but I put a recipe for pumpkin bread on here. There is also pumpkin butter (that's what we call it in the US anyway, but it is a spread), which I love. Can find a recipe for you if you want!

As for the marrow, I had read of both freezing as-is or blanching. Due to lack of time I opted for just shoving it straight in the freezer bags. I've looked at it and it seems to have frozen well, but I have yet to use it to see how it did. I'll let you know!

[Mary]

What a so so so cute picture of Kali!!!! I love those dog pictures! I've never put zucchini and pumpkin together in a cream soup before--sounds delicious.

[Laura]

I wasn't sure if it would be squash overload, but it turned out really yummy! I also usually stick a potato in my pumpkin soup to get some creaminess but we didn't have any. It was actually really nice and very different without though!

[Nike Dunks]

Simple is beautiful ah! Your blog is very simple! But very unique! Especially your articles so good it! It is all too real attention! But you do friends I admire you

[Laura]

Thanks for the compliments - I'm glad you are enjoying it! :)

[Mike]

Your soup sounds delicious, I have saved the recipe and look forward to trying it when more of our marrows are ready. Your dogs are absolutely adorable...what breed are they?

[Diane]

I have been making masses of pickle, courgette pickle is really delicious. I am struggling to keep up with mine and they don't look like stopping! Diane

[Laura]

Hi Mike, thanks! I hope you enjoy the soup.
The dogs are English pointers, sisters from the same litter and just turned 14 months old. They are from hunting stock not show stock though, so they are a little more compact than you'll often see.
And I've been meaning to ask what breed Rowdy is actually...australian shepherd? He is really a beautiful dog!

[Laura]

Hi Diane, that always seems to be the case with courgette doesn't it! I can't complain though really, as this first year having a actual garden plot we have discovered our planning wasn't ideal, so we haven't had that much to eat from it so far all things considering (mainly just the radishes, a meager pea harvest, and some lettuce and outer Swiss chard leaves, and now finally eating some tomatoes and early beets - still waiting on cabbages, fennel, cauliflower, parsnips, full Swiss chard, beets, carrots, aubergines, borlotti beans...). The courgette plants have definitely been our most reliable producer and largest yield. We need to work on our timing and types of vegetables so that we have different things ready to eat at different times throughout the year - a long way to go to get from passionate dabbling to self-sufficiency!

[Judith]

Courgettes are always reliable-sometimes too reliable. Every year I swear I will grow fewer and never remember until its glut time again.
When the pumpkins are ready, I will have a go at your soup recipe, it looks delicious.

[Laura]

We only had two, which I figured was the minimum for pollination and just in case something happened to one of them, but we were still besieged with them! Hope you like the soup!