Stuffed Marrow with Vegan Cheese Sauce is the perfect way to use up marrows - an allotment favourite. Get the recipe below.
Seasonal cooking
If you grow your own food in a kitchen garden or an allotment the chances are you've grown a marrow (or at the very least an overgrown courgette). They are an easy vegetable to grow which makes them incredibly popular. But, many people aren't sure how to cook them once they've been harvested.
This recipe isn't one cooked all year round. It is truly seasonal. You will find marrows in the supermarket or being harvested from allotments at the end of August and into September. It's one of those delicious veggies that comes into it's own when summer is over.
This Stuffed Marrow with Vegan Cheese Sauce is a wonderful, autumnal recipe that can easily feed a family of 4 - 6 people. The marrow makes this dish quite hearty, the mince stuffing is packed full of flavour and warmth and the cheese sauce makes it feel comforting. What more could you want as the nights draw in?
How to cook marrow
Due to its large size and relatively tough skin, marrow isn't necessarily the easiest vegetable to cook.
Whilst I've suggested you cut the marrow into disks before taking out the seeds, you can of course slice the marrow in half length ways and scoop out the seeds before stuffing to make two large stuffed marrow boats.
This is perhaps the lazier way but the marrow will take a little longer to cook in the oven. It's also not quite as easy to plate up beautifully but lets be honest - in the middle of the week that's hardly a priority!
How to make vegan cheese sauce
This recipe is suitable for vegans or anyone who needs to eat a dairy free diet. This is thanks to the plant based mince and the vegan cheese sauce.
I use the exact same method to make vegan cheese sauce as you would if you were making cheese sauce with cows milk and cheese. I start by making a roux with (non-dairy) butter and plain flour. Next I add soy milk slowly until I have a smooth, thin sauce. Finally grated cheese is stirred through until melted.
Use a good quality vegan butter that comes in a block. My preferred brands are Flora and Naturli.
Plain flour helps to thicken the sauce so it's the perfect silky texture.
I use soy milk because it has the richness that is most similar to cows milk.
You can use any vegan cheese you would like to flavour the sauce but I'd avoid pre-grated cheese. It often has potato starch or cornflour to stop the shreds of cheese from sticking to one another. For the best flavour I use the extra mature cheddar from Violife.
Once cooked this cheese sauce is perfect for drizzling over the Stuffed Marrow.
The recipe
Stuffed Marrow with Vegan Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
For the stuffed marrow
- 1 large marrow
- 500 g plant based mince
- 1 large white onion finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 1 yellow pepper finely diced
- 6 mushrooms finely diced
- 400 g tinned tomatoes
- 1 cube vegetable stock stock
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Salt and pepper
For the cheese sauce
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter
- 1 tablespoon plain flour
- 750 ml soy milk
- 250 grams vegan cheddar cheese grated
Instructions
- Slice the marrow into rounds roughly 2 inches thick.
- Scoop the seeds out of the middle so they make ‘O’ shapes.
- Place on a lightly oiled baking tray.
- Score the marrow deep so that it cooks all the way through and place in the middle of an oven at gas mark 5. This will take at least 30 mins.
- When the marrow has been cooking for at least half the time, begin frying off the mince in a large pan. When the mince has browned, add the chopped onion and garlic, and let them soften.
- Next add the yellow pepper and continue to fry for a further five mins before adding the mushrooms.
- Once all the veg has begun to cook pour over the tinned tomatoes and stock, season and allow it to simmer for 10 mins.
- When it has reduced down to a thick saucy consistency, take the marrow out of the oven and spoon the mince sauce into the hollowed out marrow.
- Place this back into the oven for another 20 mins
- Whilst the marrow finished cooking, melt the butter in a pan before adding the flour. Mix this into a smooth paste before adding the milk a splash at a time.
- Each time you add more milk, ensure that the paste remains smooth. It will eventually become a thick sauce.
- Once it has reached the consistency of a sauce, add the grated cheese and stir.
- Allow the cheese to melt throughout the sauce before leaving to heat through slowly.
- Make sure you stir the sauce often so no lumps form.
- Once the marrow and mince mixture has cooked serve with a hearty drizzle of cheese sauce.
Nutrition
More recipes for a September harvest
More seasonal suppers
For more autumnal recipes check out the autumn recipe collection.
Do you have a vegetable patch in your garden? Or perhaps an allotment? I'd love to hear your recommendations for using a glut of marrows.
Javelin Warrior says
I don't think I've ever tried marrow before - although I love almost any squash. This recipe sounds delicious and I love that you took the time to stuff these. Unfortunately, due to the canned tomatoes, this recipe cannot be included as part of Made with Love Mondays (as ingredients from cans are prohibited). Please see the Ingredient Restrictions section of the challenge and let me know if you have any questions. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe and I hope you'll have an opportunity to participate in the future...
Emmyw says
Aww woopsy daisy I must've missed that one! Sorry about that! Do give marrow a try though, it's one of my favourite vegetables! It's got a delicious creamy-sweetness about it that is quite hard to describe 🙂
Gen says
Hi Emma, Writing from the US, and not sure what a marrow is? Would that be the same as Zucchini? When I first saw the recipe, I thought of bone marrow, ha! Then I checked out your recipe and discovered that is was a type of squash. I am so enjoying the menus and recipes from so many English cooks on Menu Planning Monday.
Emma Walton says
Hi Gen! Thanks for stopping by! A marrow is very similar to a zucchini. Taste the same except it's much larger! Hope that helps. I also have a recipe for stuffed butternut squash which you may enjoy!
Ceri says
Those marrows are ginormous! Amazing to have home grown produce and this looks like a delicious stuffing for them!
Emma Walton says
They are pretty spectacular aren't they Ceri! I miss having a vegetable garden can't wait til I have a home. No flowers for me just tasty home grown produce!
Andrea @ The Petite Cook says
Never tried marrow before, I'm so curious! Stuffed veggies are a winter favorite at home, so I'll quickly add this to my to-do list 🙂 Do you think I can use parmesan cheese instead of cheddar?
Emma Walton says
Thanks Andrea. You should be able use any hard cheese in this recipe - I've used red Leicester and gouda for example . You might find you need a little more flour to help thicken as the parmesan doesn't melt quite the same as cheddar. I'd be interested to see how you get on swapping the two cheeses!
LifestyleswithLia says
Emma! I admit that I too had never heard of marrow as a vegetable before reading your lovely post! I thought bone marrow too but now I see that marrows are HUGE zucchini! Wow! Indeed they are rather big but I'm sure they are full of deliciousness! Your recipe looks scrumptious and sure to please anyone with the yummy ingredients.
My parents used to have a vegetable garden and would have tons of zucchini at the end of the summer. My mom would cut them in small pieces, add them to tomato sauce and then sprinkle in fennel seeds to the sauce...It gave the sauce an interesting flavor and the zucchini were often used up that way!
Thanks for sharing this great post with us !
*Lia
Emma Walton says
What a lovely suggestion Lia! We also put zucchini (or courgette as we call it) into pasta sauce but I've never tried it with fennel. It sounds delicious 🙂 thanks for sharing. X
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
I have really gotten in to marrow recently, as it's really comforting and filling and there is so much that you can do with it too.
Emma Walton says
It's so versatile isn't it Dannii! This is still one of my favourite ways to cook it though
Helen at Casa Costello says
I haven't had Marrow for years!! I'm suddenly yearning for a taste after your pics. Loving the nostalgia of the veggie plot - Here's hoping for more massive marrow before the end of Sept x
Claire @foodiequine says
I've not cooked much at all with marrow. Not really the kind of thing you get in a supermarket and need to count on getting one from someone with an allotment. My daughter loves a cheese sauce so this could be a cunning way of getting her to eat veg!
Emma Walton says
Hi claire. This is definitely a good way of making kids eat veggies! No one can say no to cheese sauce 😉 I hope she likes it!