I’ve never seen Mimi Thorrison mentioned in a blog post, and I follow hundreds of blogs. Are we all jealous of her? Seriously. She’s stunningly beautiful with her French and Japanese heritage. And in spite having 7 children, she has model beauty, and is always elegant, no matter if she’s cooking, dining, or in the garden.
Soon after I started blogging I discovered Mimi from her blog called Manger, which is the verb “to eat” in French. The blog was so beautiful and professional, now under construction. Her husband is the photographer – Oddur Thorisson – an Icelander, thus her last name is Thorisson.
In a nutshell, the married couple moved from Paris as their family and number of dogs grew in number to the Médoc region of France, renovated a house, had more children, organized workshops, wrote cookbooks. Raised more dogs. I have her second cookbook, called French Country Cooking, published in 2016. Her first, published in 2014, is A Kitchen in France.
Here is Mimi with one of her children in front of their house in Médoc.
The book is really nice, and the photos are stunning. They’re little glimpses into what we all can imagine as ours if we moved to the countryside in France. And those photogenic children seem to take it all in stride. But the recipes are also good. I wanted to make Chicken and Lemon Pâté en Croà»te but then, Roast Bone Marrow with Herbs caught my attention. I’ve always been a bone lover – it’s maybe a thing about having a French mother. I was always extra excited when Mom served us lamb chops because I got to suck the marrow out of the bones. Such a delicacy.
If there’s roasted bone marrow on a menu these days, I get very excited. Although if there’s also steak tartare, it might win out. I’ve only started seeing marrow on menus for maybe 10-12 years where I live in Oklahoma. And this is beef country. But many people are put off with the idea of eating the insides of bones.
From the cookbook, Mimi writes: “One of my weaknesses, and I have many when it comes to food, is old-fashioned recipes, bourgeois-style slow-cooked stews, but also, going even further back in history, medieval dishes. I am a big believer in using every part of the animal, especially we’re talking about slathering a slice of really good country bread with a thick coat of delicious melted marrow, or fat – pure indulgence.”
Roast Bone Marrow with Herbs
8 marrow bones, split
1 cup flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
Leaves from 2 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped
2 small shallots, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Coarse sea salt
Ground black pepper
Slices of rustic country bread, toasted
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Arrange the bones marrow side up, in a roasting pan. Roast the bones until the marrow is soft and golden, 15 to 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the salad. In a medium bowl, toss together the parsley, rosemary, shallots, olive oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
Put the marrow bones on plates, top with a sprinkling of coarse sea salt.
Serve with the parsley salad and toast on the side and little spoons or knives for scooping out the marrow.
I thought I might have to do some tweaking but this recipe was perfect. I loved the herb salad.
I combined the remaining marrow with tallow and a pound of butter to make marrow butter or, marrow tallow butter, along with some of the herbs and shallots. I got the idea from watching The Lost Kitchen. Erin French routinely makes marrow butter for her restaurant.
