I found a beast of a marrow at the side of the road a few days ago. Well, it was actually in a cardboard box on a neighbour’s wall, hanging out with several other pumpkins, with a sign saying ‘please take’. So not liking to miss out on a freebie, I popped the marrow in my bag. It weighed a tonne. People don’t generally like marrows, because they’re considered watery and difficult to make tasty, but I think they’re ace because there’s loads you can do with them. Instead of hollowing out your marrow and fashioning a small canoe out of it, you can grate the flesh and shove it in a cake, use it in a Thai curry as  you would a courgette, or you can make a kick-ass frittata (posh word for fluffy grilled thick omelette) with it. Which is what I did today. It took about 10 minutes. Better than making a large clog out of it, that’s for sure.

I pimped the frittata up with thick Greek yoghurt added to the eggs which puffs up under the grill and is tangy and gorgeous, and before grilling I dropped some blobs of pesto sauce on the top. Who says marrows or omelettes are boring? I mean, look at this fun guy!

Serves 2 hungry people as a main with a salad, or 4 if you have a couple of side dishes to supplement.

You will need:

About 500g marrow (or courgette), skin removed (it’s tough) and sliced into half moons
Olive oil plus 2 knobs of butter
4 large free range eggs
2 tablespoons full fat Greek yoghurt (I use Total)
4 teaspoons pesto sauce
A few sprinkles of Pecorino or Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Fresh herbs such as oregano or basil

Turn your grill on, and while it’s heating up, fry your marrow in the olive oil and butter in a non-stick ovenproof frying pan until soft and slightly browned on a few edges, but not too mushy. Whisk your eggs up, add a bit of salt and pepper, then drop in the Greek yoghurt and whisk loosely again – you’ll see blobs of yoghurt still visible, which is what you want.

Tip the egg/yoghurt mixture into the frying pan and cook on a medium heat for two minutes. Then dot the pesto sauce on the top, sprinkle over  your grated cheese and then shove under the grill and close the oven door leaving a small gap. Grill until the frittata is all puffed up and golden (about four minutes) and then serve sprinkled with fresh herbs. The ones I used were oregano from my bro and missus’s Nunhead herb garden. Thanking you, P & D!

Awesome with a simple tomato salad on the side.

*I still don’t know those neighbours, but if they ever read this, thanks very much for Monsieur Marrow!