Workin' gal

Oh the joys of having a job. Of course I'm glad I have some work, but some sacrifices have to be made, such as getting up at 7am and the lack of any decent meals being produced to feed this blog. Tonight, I had a little more time. My job requires lesson planning which can take up to 3 hours if I get my teeth into a good idea, but I forced myself to stop and set about producing a culinary feast.

So how one bag of frozen IKEA meatballs ended up in the mix, I'm not exactly sure. Gone are the days when Neil and I would buy those frozen fish products with various toppings (you know the ones I mean) and crispy pancakes and frozen chips, now, in our quest to eat no processed food at all, these meatballs are the only convenience food we have available. When I suggested these little morsels to Neil, he made a strange excited noise and exclaimed "Ah, comfort food", so I decided to make it comfort food proper and made a tomato sauce to sit them in, covered with cheese and grilled.

Meatballs from IKEA

I used 15

Tomato Sauce

1/2 onion, chopped small

1 clove garlic, chopped small

1 small pepper, chopped small

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp butter

1 tin plum tomatoes

1 handful dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in boiling water for 15 minutes

1 sachet rich beef stock

1 bay leaf

1 tsp marmite

salt, pepper

Saute the onion, garlic and pepper in the oil and butter over low heat until soft.

Add the tin of tomatoes, breaking them up with a spoon, add the bay leaf and simmer for about 20 minutes until thickened.

Add the mushrooms, stock and marmite, season to taste and let simmer on very low heat for 5 minutes. The sauce should be thick and meaty.

Cook the meatballs according to packet instructions, or if using your own, until browned and cooked through. Add them to the sauce, laying them on top and cover with two huge handfuls of grated cheese (I used parmesan and a little Double Gloucester I had left) and brown under a grill.

I served this with boiled broccoli and asparagus, but a nice plate of wholewheat spaghetti would also have been very welcome!

Thanksgiving is on Sunday and we're having some friends over to celebrate, (what Neil and I are actually celebrating being British, I'm not sure), so there'll be lots of nice recipes and pictures and a great big turkey. I hope they're not expecting the traditional Canadian version!