The Cottage Smallholder

Slave Sis surprised me this morning,
“It’s half term so I thought I’d come up for a week to tackle the garden.”
“Great! When are you coming?”
“Tomorrow. Is that OK?”
Long pause…..
“Yes. Of course.It would be great to see you and the pugs.”
“I can come at the weekend.”
“No tomorrow is fine!”
And I was being honest. I’ve missed her.

What Slave Sis never sees is the hysterical house cleaning and sorting that happens before her visits! Never mind. I had taken chippolatas and mince out of the freezer yesterday. To make mini Toad in the Holes and have a go at my old recipe for soft meatballs. This can be used with any mince fromm beef to venison. Pork is generally cheaper.

Slave Sis is not keen on Toad. So I made extra mash when I was preparing Jack’s goat pie. So tomorrow’s supper is sorted. With sausage sandwiches for lunch one day. Another Slave Sis favourite.

I didn’t want to leave uncooked mince hanging about, so tonight I’m cooking my new version of my old recipe for soft meatballs. Personally I’m not over keen on the nuggets that you can buy in the supermarkets. These meatballs are delish when cooked and will sit happily in the fridge for a couple of days or so.

Looking at this old recipe it struck me how ingredients have changed over the past few years. Instead of using a made up sauce, I used the homemade Marinara sauce that was sitting in the freezer. I added four big tomatoes that were hanging about in the fridge and added a jar of Italian griddled peppers – curtesy of Aldi at a price less than the fresh peppers equivalent.

I also added a teaspoon of miso paste to give the sauce a bit of oompf and umami luciousness. More on the magic of miso at a later date!

Now I need to update the recipe.