Bones_ Recipes, History, and Lore - Jennifer McLagan [115]
2. Uncover the saucepan and continue to simmer very gently for another 15 minutes, or until the barley is just tender.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the marrow, lemon zest, and vanilla. Cover the pan and let it stand until barley has completely absorbed the milk. Serve warm or cold.
Marrow Pudding
This recipe is adapted from one in Florence White’s Good Things in England. It is a type of bread and butter pudding, the food of my childhood. However, instead of the buttered bread slices my mother used, it is made with bread crumbs that are enriched with marrow. Good-quality fresh bread crumbs, preferably from an egg bread or brioche, are essential for this recipe. Slice the bread and trim off the crusts, place in a food processor, and process to coarse crumbs. Be sure to soak the marrow in advance to remove any traces of blood.
8 ounces (225 g) fresh white bread crumbs (about 3 cups)
2 cups (500 ml) whole milk
3 ounces (90 g) bone marrow, chopped (about ½ cup)
½ cup (80 g) raisins
2 large eggs
⅓ cup (65 g) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
⅓ packed cup (70 g) brown sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 9-inch (23-cm) square baking dish. Place the bread crumbs in a bowl. Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to a boil, then pour over the crumbs. Leave the crumbs to soak for 10 minutes.
2. Stir the marrow and raisins into the bread crumbs. Whisk the eggs with the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Add to the bread crumbs and mix well. Pour this mixture into the baking
3. Place the baking dish in a larger pan and add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes, or until just firm in the center.
4. Preheat the broiler to high. Sprinkle the top of the pudding with the brown sugar and broil until the sugar melts. Let cool slightly, and serve.
Bone Cookies
These are called ossi da mordere or ossi di morto in Itahan and in her book The Italian Baker, Carol Field describes them as “crunchy chocolate cookies traditionally shaped like bones.” She makes them into balls in her recipe, but I wanted bone-shaped cookies, and I wanted white bones. So, I left out the cocoa, formed them into bone shapes, and chilled them for about 1 hour before baking. (The chilling helps them hold their shape.) When they came out of the oven, I had a tray of white bones, still soft and chewy in the center. The amount of egg white needed will vary depending on the humidity in your confectioners’ sugar. You want a mixture that is neither crumbly nor too sticky.
¾ cup (125 g) blanched almonds
1½ cups (150 g) confectioners’ (icing) sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons egg whites (1 to 2 egg whites)
1 tablespoon milk
1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the almonds in a food processor and process to a coarse powder. Add the sugar and process to a fine powder. Pour in 3 tablespoons egg white and process until the mixture forms a stiff paste the consistency of almond paste; add a little more egg white if necessary.
2. Remove the dough from the processor. To shape the cookies, take about 2 teaspoons of dough and roll it into a rope about 3 inches (7.5 cm) long, then shape it into a bone. Place the cookies 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the lined baking sheets. Place the baking sheets in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 3 hours before baking.
3. Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Remove the cookies from the refrigerator and lightly brush them with the milk. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until slightly puffed and just firm to touch. Let them cool slightly on the baking sheets, then, using a spatula transfer them to a cooling rack.
4. When cool, store the cookies in airtight container.
Variation
ο To make chocolate bones, add ¼ cup (20 g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa to the food processor with the confectioners’ sugar.
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