Oh the long haul

I've made some really bad menu choices lately. Things I did not fancy at all - not so much the end products, which were mostly nice, as the sheer faffery of making them, after long days of sitting very still at a bad desk setup, alternating with slightly too much exercise because I just have to MOVE. (Too much exercise = the state of my blisters (walking) and wrists (vinyasa yoga), mostly, I am definitely not overall in exercise credit. I probably need a third option there tbh. Something that mostly causes pain in your.. neck? Arse? I don't know. Somewhere else, anyway.).

Looking at you, Galloping Horses, a Diana Henry recipe for canapes which I remembered simplifying into a delicious mince-with-rice-and-pineapple main. And indeed it was simpler than the canapes original. But it was still 40 solid minutes of work, two pans, two bowls, a blender, plus fiddling around with ingredients hidden all over my kitchen, and eventually despairing of finding the plain packet of peanuts which is definitely *somewhere* and finishing this Thai-inspired recipe with pistachios, which is wrong on so many levels. Unfortunately it was really tasty again. Trying to make a mental note that says Tasty But Not Worth It this time.

Tonight isn't so bad, but it's still two pans, the oven, more bowls.... spaghetti with meatballs, sorta. GIANT meatballs, though. Stuffed giant meatballs. Yeah. I should schedule toast more often.

But this was good. And not really all that much work, if I was less frayed*.

Meatball mix: mince (pork is better I think, but you do you), seasoning, rosemary (do not throw the end of a packet away the night before because it's bins night; if you do, consider thyme instead), ground fennel seeds, chopped garlic, an egg, a couple of tbsps breadcrumbs or plain flour. Pretty forgiving

Stuffing: mascarpone with lemon zest and lemon juice.

Mix each, roll the meat into large meatballs (suggested 4 for 600g meat, I did 4 for 400g and they were giant but hard to stuff). Poke a thumb-dent into each, spoon in some mascarpone mix, try to seal over with mince. I failed largely to achieve this but it didn't go horribly wrong. Put into a baking dish (with sides, you will need them later), and bake 20-25mins in a medium oven (200deg/180 fan).

Meanwhile, make a beautifully simple tomato sauce by frying some more chopped garlic and then tipping in a tin of tomatoes. Give it 10 minutes on the hob at least.

When the meatballs are browned, pour the sauce over them and give them a last 5 minutes in the oven.

Serve on pasta. Don't forget the parsley you bought for this. Extra vitamins etc. Or the parmesan you could easily have used too. Oops.

Pretty good, though. Despite everything.

*Why am I frayed? I mean, all this everything, obviously, but also a new weird realisation, of which I have twote, that coming out of lockdown in this weird uneven way is going to mean a long period where officially Things Are Normal, but my life is in no way normal (when can I sensibly work travel? When can I sensibly ram two or three site visits into a busy week just before awards panel? Not bloody soon, I can tell you. And yet that may still be before it's sensible for me to go to the office often).

A lot of the positive lockdown help props are being removed, but unless you really want to go shopping a whole bunch, there's nothing in their place. And I do not want to shop. I want to chuck stuff away. I want to meet people. And that seems to be very, very far off.

Chopping and mixing and cooking stuff is at least a productive thing to do in such circumstances.