New Year’s on a budget

ROASTED MARROW BONES WITH BLOOD-ORANGE GREMOLATA

Serve this and your guests will think you just graduated from culinary school, but don’t let these good bones’ complicated good looks fool you; nothing could be easier! Your butcher does all the heavy lifting; ask them to provide you with big beefy marrow bones—cut down to size. All you need to do is apply heat and seasoning and dig in! Better still, as well as being storehouses of nutritious and delicious marrow, bones just might be the most affordable cut of meat there is. Figure on one to two chimney-like bones per person (butchers usually cut these into 3- to 4-inch/8- to 10-cm lengths), but feel free to roast as many as you like. What isn’t eaten at dinner can be simmered into deliciously heathy bone broth.

6 to 12 chimney-style marrow bones, veal or beef

Coarse salt or foil for the pan if needed to prop up bones

1/4 tsp (1 mL) sea salt, plus a pinch for sprinkling over the bones to season

1/4 tsp (1 mL) pepper, plus a pinch for sprinkling over the bones to season

Zest of 1 washed blood orange, about 1 heaping tbsp (15 mL-plus)

Juice of 1 blood orange; about 3 to 4 tbsp

(45 to 60 mL)

1/2 cup (125 mL) finely minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 450°F (230°C).

Arrange bones standing up in a roasting pan. Season bones with a pinch each of salt and pepper and pop into the oven. Roast for about 15 minutes or until the gelatinous marrow begins to pull away from the sides of the bone and turns opaque, but not so long that it melts and all the tasty fat pours away!

While the bones are roasting, make the gremolata by combining the salt, pepper, zest, juice, parsley and garlic in a small bowl. Stir to combine.

To serve, place one or two bones standing up on each plate and sprinkle about a tsp (5 mL) of the gremolata on top of each bone. Bring any leftover gremolata to the table. And don’t forget to offer a lovely loaf of crusty bread for sopping up juices and every last drop of marrow. You’ll also need to provide tiny, long-handled spoons for digging out all the luscious marrow.

Serves 6