A Good Day Off

Meatballs in tomato sauce and a good peach cake

A much needed day off today. I cleaned the house a little, cut some flowers, baked a cake with my daughter. These are the days, at the end of summer, that I live for.

This week I came into a glut of tomatoes, from my mother-in-law’s vegetable garden. I happened to have some ground pork and beef and some stale focaccia in the fridge and so I made meatballs. It reminded me that so many dishes we think of as wintery are actually wonderful made in the summer, at peak end of season harvest time. Soups such as minestrone or a lovely velvety soup of eggplant and roasted peppers, fast-cooking braises of chicken or fish cooked with and tomato and olives. They are all inherently fresher tasting when made with fresh tomatoes rather than canned ones. Pair with a good green salad for balance and it no longer feels like heavy comfort food at all

.

Meatballs

A perfectly simple bowl of meatballs

This makes a large quantity, enough for 8 people or so. They make great leftovers so am not worried about this fact if I don’t have that many mouths to feed day of. You could also cook half one day and save the uncooked meatballs (sauce on the side) for up to 3 days in the fridge for another meal later in the week or you could freeze them like this, just defrost completely in the fridge before cooking.

This is a basic recipe, feel free to use herbs that you have available or prefer. I do always use parsley for a little freshness and I like the fennel seeds and lemon zest, they brighten the flavour and really distinguish the flavour of the meatballs from the sauce.