TOMATO SOUP
Coarsely chop 1.3-1.5kg tomatoes, 1 large onion and 3 sticks of celery (if you haven't got celery, add celery herb). Add 1-2 bay leaves, 7-10 cloves, 2 half-litre stock cubes (1 beef, 1 veg) and 1 tsp dried parsley or 1 tbsp fresh, just cover with cold water, bring to the boil, then simmer for about 1 hr.
Remove the bay leaf and cloves then pass the tomato mixture through a food mill (we call them "stirring sieves"
).Stir in 1 tbsp tomato puree and small (marble-sized) meat balls made from 250-300g strongly-seasoned mince (mixed pork & beef for preference, otherwise lean pork; no egg or breadcrumbs; the spice mix I use is black pepper, nutmeg, cloves, coriander, cumin). Simmer for 10 mins.
So true. We had lamb shanks in red wine last night. They take a long time to cook, but do not require much in terms of fiddling about in the kitchen. We don't usually eat so extravagantly during the week, but these had been bought anticipating friends coming around for supper yesterday (it being the equinox, and any excuse will do among the retired, doncha know). However, regulations in Scotland put paid to that, so we just cooked them anyway, and the three of us has a very, very nice dinner. (Yes I could have frozen them, but why take up all that space? Now I'll probably freeze the extra meat -- didn't realise local lambs were so... big...)