21 December - asian meatballs and ravioli

There was a very small amount of mince left in the fridge from the other night's Italian-style meatballs, so I made it up into some tiny Asian-inspired meatballs for my lunch. I mixed the minced beef with chopped garlic and a very finely sliced lime leaf. I fried them and plopped them into some broth (veg stock flavoured with a lime leaf and ginger) with some sliced leeks and pak choi. Fresh and tasty.

Tris was out this evening, so I went for some simple mushroom-filled ravioli from the supermarket, with creamy sauce poshed up with a dash of truffle oil - fantastic aftertaste all evening!

19 December - meatballs

There were some rather unripe, out-of-season tomatoes to be eaten up, so I whizzed them up and made them into a sauce to go with some meatballs. I used beef mince with some garlic, parsley, breadcrumbs, parmesan, pine nuts and egg - fried up then bubbled in the sauce and served with linguine.

5 October - meatballs and malay chicken korma

I used up the little bit of leftover turkey mince for lunch, making it into some Asian-influenced meatballs. I mixed the mince with some chopped lemongrass, red chilli, garlic and fresh coriander and fried it as little meatballs, which I then dropped into a bowl of broth (veg stock with the rest of the chilli, a couple of lime leaves and more herbs: mint, basil and coriander) with some noodles in the bottom. A yummy, fresh, tasty lunch:

My parents are coming to visit at the weekend, so I'm making up some curries for my Dad. He loves curry, but my Mum hates it, so periodically I make him a batch to put in the freezer. He can then take them out and heat them up when my Mum's not home, both satisfying his curry urge and getting round the fact that he's not much of a cook! This evening I made up a big batch of chicken curry - a recipe I hadn't tried before for Malay chicken korma (from Madhur Jaffrey) - so that we could have half for dinner and I could pop the rest in pots for my Dad.

It was quite a long-winded recipe - which is I why I'm not going to bother typing it up here! - but the result was probably worth it. It's a very mild creamy curry - with both yoghurt and coconut milk - and as it contains potatoes and carrots, we decided to have it as a meal on its own without any rice. I'm not sure how well it's going to freeze and whether it's going to curdle when it's heated up again, but I'll pass a couple of pots onto my Dad and see what he makes of it.

11 August - meatballs and spaghetti

I had a colleague round for dinner this evening, for meatballs and spaghetti. It's a recipe I found in a WFI magazine a couple of years ago and it always goes down really well - it creates great smells and tastes good too, but without being too fancy.

For the sauce:

• Put a tin of tomatoes, a small chopped onion, a couple of garlic cloves, a splash of olive oil and some torn up basil in a saucepan. Bubble away for as long as possible (an hour if you can), cool, then liquidise.

For the meatballs:

• Mix together about 200g beef mince, 50g fresh breadcrumbs, 40g grated parmesan, some chopped garlic, parsley, a handful of pine nuts and an egg. Shape the mixture into balls - I did 8 from these quantities, so four each.
• Fry the meatballs in olive oil for about ten mins, then plop them into the tomato sauce to finish cooking for another 15-20 mins, along with some more fresh basil if you want and a spoon of the frying oil (this really adds to the flavour!), while you cook the spaghetti.

It's not the most elegant of dishes, but it went down well over an evening of chat. No photos because I was being sociable rather than putting a plate by the window in search of natural light!!

30 July - melon & mozzarella and spicy meatballs

The weekend started with another trip to Ruby & White for some more meat - I think it's going to prove quite difficult to resist! Lunch was a lovely, summery salad of canteloupe melon with parma ham and creamy mozzarella, scattered with a few basil leaves and dressed with a little olive oil and lemon dressing.

For dinner, I made meatballs based on a Nigel Slater recipe:

• Mix 300g pork mince, a handful of lardons, a chopped shallot, some chopped lemongrass, chopped red chilli and a handful of fresh chopped coriander. And shape into small (walnut-sized) balls - today I made 10.
• Gently fry a few mushrooms with some sliced garlic and chilli in a wok.
• Add about 500ml chicken stock and a bashed stalk of lemongrass. Throw in a good handful of fresh peas and simmer.
• Fry the meatballs in vegetable oil for a few minutes until cooked through and nicely caramelised on the outside.
• Boil a few noodles. Add some chopped mint, coriander and basil to the broth.
• Serve a pile of noodles in the bottom of a large bowl with the meatballs on the top and the broth poured over.

The first time I came across the idea of meatballs in soup, it seemed a bit odd, but it's actually a really good combination - substantial (with the meatballs and noodles), but fresh and herby too.