Roast Bone Marrow

The concept of using a band saw to slice an animal's leg bone to scoop out the inner marrow with the sole purpose of eating it does not appeal to some people. That's fine. If it does tickle your fancy then ahoy! More for you and I good friend!

Next time you're cruising the local butchers and you see a bunch of 3inch bone segments all wrapped up like the Christmas present you never wanted, think of this post. Think of the potential. I promise you won't regret it.

I had the marrow in this particular fashion as an app at PizMo a couple months ago and the sheer deliciousness of it has not been forgotten. I picked 5 segments up at Ralph's today for 3 bucks. Can't go wrong. But you came here to cook, not to read. Onward and forward.

Here's what you need:

Bone marrow segments, 2-4 inches across (2 per person if you are a good host)
Sea salt
Italian Bread
Olive oil
*Optional garlic, if you decide you want garlic, just roast a head of garlic a la 2 posts previous.

Here's what you do (don't laugh its actually this easy):
1) Preheat oven to 450
2) Put bone segments on a baking pan or skillet, and bake for about 15 minutes, until the top of the marrow forms a little crust, but before it starts to run. I prefer to use a skillet because the resulting fat that gets left behind forms a nice natural non-stick coating on the skillet for future use.
2) With about 5 minutes to go, slice your Italian loaf, brush some olive oil on the slices, and toast the pieces
3) When the marrow is done, take it out, sprinkle some coarse salt on top and serve it. Let your guests fork out the marrow onto the toast, with some salt and garlic if they/you choose.

Keep the bones, and boil them to for some crazy delicious beef stock that you can use for anything really, from boiling potatoes to making stew to cooking pasta in for a meat sauce.

If you have never had marrow before, I guarantee that you have never tasted anything like it and it will blow your mind into a million little pieces (not a fictional statement).
If you have had it before, well then, by all means, enjoy!