
I had a lovely weekend except for one super irritating phone call. No matter, in keeping with my quest for calm, I told my daughter we would never speak of it again.
On Friday night, we got takeaway from the local turkish. Its popularity can be seen in the lines below but fortunately, I had phoned ahead and he was yelling my name as we got there. We are still eating left overs and even the cat had some left over lamb kebab and rice with pine nuts. We always get the banquet as you get enough for 3 people and a bit of everything.

On both Saturday and Sunday, Charlie and I did the long walk up Red Hill. Both mornings were spectacular, clear and cool with a mass of kangaroos grazing or snoozing. Charlie even got his photo taken by an admirer to send to his wife with a plea to get a dog like that. I did a 6am call on Saturday for work but only because it was my two favourite people. One made me laugh talking about a coworker "he didn't so much have a bee in his bonnet as a whole hive". So true.
I did the Costco run and other supermarket things, filled the car with petrol, cleaned the house and had an enjoyable evening with my daughter. On Sunday, it was rinse and repeat interspersed with a trip to look at homewares and wish yet again for the opening of Ikea. (The sign has gone up, it is supposed to open by the end of the year!)
I made the soup again yesterday and it so good I am sharing:
Ribollita with italian pork meatballs, adapted from delicious
- 4 italian style pork and fennel sausages, casings removed (I used pork and veal and added extra chilli and fennel)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 large carrot, finely chopped
- 1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 rosemary sprig
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (this is actually quite a lot and I love chilli, I'd do 1/2 to taste)
- 1 tsp ground fennel
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 1l chicken stock (I rarely have a litre but I usually have a bit of homemade and top with water. I also don't use a full litre as I like it quite thick)
- 1 bunch cavolo nero (I use silver beet if I can't find and even English spinach, the big leaves, not baby spinach which would go too mushy), shredded
- 1 zucchini, chopped
- 400g can cannel ini beans (I confess I have used heinz in a pinch, washed clean of tomato sauce in a sieve)
- juice of a lemon
It sounds like a lot of ingredients but I have all these in my cupboard or garden. I'd skip the rosemary if none available but I think the chilli and fennel are a must.
- Roll the sausage meat into about 20 small meatballs. Heat 1tsp of oil and brown meatballs and set aside.
- Using same saucepan, add chopped carrot, onion and celery (I whizz these together in my food processor until chopped as I am idle and can't bear big chunks of onion but don't let them get to a puree) and fry in a bit more oil until soft (about 8 mins).
- Add chilli, bay, fennel, rosemary and stir for one minute
- Add in tomatoes, stock and about another cup of water. Put meatballs back in and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add in cavolo nero, zucchini and beans. Cook for another ten minutes.
- Serve with a squeeze of lemon. Note, no added salt - I find the stock is often quite salty and the lemon seems to remove the need for salt.
- Sometimes we add grated parmesan as well but it doesn't need it
- Keeps well for a couple of days but have not tried freezing
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