Hearty marrow and beer stew with mustard dumplings

This recipe will serve 3-4 people.

Ingredients:

For the stew:
tablespoon olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes
2 onions
4-5 cloves garlic
two large green marrows
1 vegetable oxo cube
1 decent glug - 1 small glass beer
1 tsp marmite
salt and pepper to taste
handful chives, chopped
half handful coriander, chopped
4-5 mint basil leaves, roughly ripped

For the dumplings:
4 oz self-raising flour
2 oz Atora vegetable suet
pinch salt
2 tsp yellow mustard seeds, crushed
water to mix


Method:

1. Chop the onion into large chunks (from top to bottom)

2. Chop the garlic cloves in half (from top to bottom)

3. Chop the marrow into tall pieces, about 3inches tall and 1/2inch to 1 inch wide.

4. Drizzle olive oil into the bottom of a casserole dish and sprinkle with the chilli flakes, then tightly pack the garlic, onion and marrows into the casserole dish, on end.

5. Dissolve the marmite and the oxo cube in a cup of boiling water, then pour this liquid into the casserole dish, so that it comes halfway up the height of the marrow stacks. Sprinkle the fresh herbs on the top of the stew.

6. Put the lid on the casserole dish and bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes until the marrow starts to go tender. Test the broth and add salt and pepper to taste.

7. Meanwhile, mix the dumplings and divide the mixture into 6-8 pieces.

8. When the marrow is starting to go tender, add the beer to the casserole dish, and a little more water if necessary, so that the water level is maintained at halfway to three quarters of the way up the marrow sticks. Sit the dumplings on top of the liquid, replace the casserole lid and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.