WHAT’S COOKING: Roasted marrow bones in a beef and onion broth, with gremolata

Three elements make up this classy starter for a dinner party to spoil friends who have walked long roads with you.

There are marrow bones in this, and there’s a broth. But this is not a recipe for bone broth. The latter takes 48 hours to cook. This takes under two hours.

But there’s quite a lot involved in this recipe too. The marrow bones have to be roasted, and so do the onions. I roasted the garlic too. You can do them together or separately, depending on the dimensions of your oven and the pan you’re using. Or use two pans on different racks of a big old oven.

As we know, my largest oven is a countertop one – quite big, but not big enough to roast both of those elements together.

Having roasted the onions and the bones, both are left to cool while you make the broth. This starts with simmering finely chopped onions and adding beef stock. The bones are now added, along with the roasted onions, which you chop up, and the roasted garlic which is squeezed out of its husks. Thyme gives it a gentle herby tone.

Finally, you make a gremolata from very finely grated fresh garlic and parsley, with the finely grated zest of a lemon. The gremolata serves to cut the inevitable fattiness of any dish built around marrow bones.

Bone broth, meanwhile, is not merely a broth that has marrow bones in it. It takes 48 hours of uninterrupted simmering to make it. Read more about bone broth here .

18 cross-section chunks of marrow bones (i.e. cut into rounds, not lengths)

1 whole head of garlic, sliced in half through the middle (in the round)

First, roast the marrow bones. Place them on a strong baking sheet with a raised edge so that the fat does not spill over. Season with salt and black pepper. Roast at 200°C for 30 minutes. Leave to cool to room temperature.

Roast the onions: slice in half through the middle and place them on a baking sheet sprayed with olive oil spray, and also place the garlic cut-side down in the pan. Roast the onions at 200°C for about half an hour. Remove the garlic after 20 minutes, as it will cook quicker. Allow the onions and garlic to cool.

Chop the onions. Add a little olive oil to a deep, heavy pot and put it on a moderate heat.

Chop up the roasted onions and stir them in. Squeeze the garlic pulp onto a chopping board, chop it up, and stir it into the onions. (If the pulp is gooey, just squeeze it into the pot.)

Add the thyme sprigs and pour in the beef stock, and season with salt and black pepper. (The soup needs generous salting.) Put all the marrow bones into the pot.