Haggis-Stuffed Marrow with a Parmesan Crust

With the first of the big juicy summer marrows gracing local supermarket shelves, I was inspired to create my own hodgepodge recipe which combines the season's best vegetables with a forgotten haggis rescued from the freezer. Traditionally, sausagemeat provides the core meaty depth to stuffed marrows, but I was surprised at how well my peppery haggis variation turned out. The parmesan crust is not essential but the little extra effort is worth it for an additional textural dimension.



Oven time: 2 hours 20 mins

Prep time: approx 30 mins
For the marrow:

• 1 marrow (any size - we used one approx 30cm in length) 
• 1 haggis (500g) 
• 2 ripe tomatoes 
• 1 potato 
• 1 carrot 
• 1 large onion 
• 4 cloves of garlic 
• 1 large egg 
• 3 tbsp of plain flour 
• 3 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 2 tsp black pepper 
• 1 tsp dried sage 
• 1 tsp dried rosemary 
• 1 tsp dried oregano 
• 1 tsp dried parsley 
• 2 tsp dried basil 

For the Parmesan Crust:

• 4 slices of stale bread 
• 2 tbsp grated Parmesan 
• Pinch of salt 
• Pinch of sugar 
• 4 tbsp sunflower oil 

Served with:

Pan fried peppers in garlic with garden peas.

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C.

Slice the marrow longitudinally and, with a spoon, hollow out the seeds and discard. Carefully remove some more of the marrow flesh so that a 2 cm marrow case remains.

Chop this up and place in a large mixing bowl. Add the chopped onion, carrot, garlic, potato, tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper and the dried herbs. Add a beaten egg, the olive oil and half of the haggis. Mix well. Up to 5 tbsp of plain flour can be added to thicken if necessary. The consistency to aim for is like that of a yoghurt smoothie.

Split the remaining 250g of haggis into two and press a layer into the hollowed out marrow. This requires some patience but does not need to be perfect. Then fill the marrow with the vegetable and haggis mixture to the brim. Any remaining mixture can be frozen (to be added to soups, casseroles, lasagne) or use it to stuff some peppers alongside the marrow.

Bake at 170°C for 2 hours.

In the meantime, prepare your breadcrumbs using four slices of stale bread. We used a mixture of white and brown. Grate the parmesan and season with salt and sugar. Add the sunflower oil and mix thoroughly into the breadcrumbs. Hand mixing is best for this.

After the marrow is cooked all the way through and steaming (2 hours at 170°C) carefully spoon a generous layer of breadcrumbs evenly onto the marrow surface. Pat down to hold it in place, but careful - it's very hot. Another 15 - 20 mins in the oven and it's ready to serve!