I noticed an article in the Guardian on-line news yesterday about alternative fuel sources.

I’m all for fuel saving tips, but this idea of running a car on cooking oil from London to Athens in a rally takes some beating.

Andy Pag from London has organised the 10 car rally using waste cooking oil for fuel. Yep you heard it right!

Don’t get me wrong I’m all for using alternative fuels and protecting the environment and if they can work out some sort of filter to remove the burnt bits of sausage, scampi, kebab etc I may even invest in one myself.

Meanwhile I’ll stick to my recipe of Marinated Raw Beef which requires no cooking of any kind, and as a keen armchair rally enthusiast I will keep a beady eye on the adventures of Andy!

I thought I knew how to make quick and easy meatballs until I found this recipe in an old collection of Les’s.

These are so much better.

So, with Les still not feeling well, I decided to give it a go and surprise her.

It’s just a simple meatballs recipe of ground beef, mashed potato, passata, garlic, onion, parsley, salt and some freshly ground black pepper.

Cooked and served on a bed of fresh spaghetti.

All done from start to finish in 45 minutes, fantastic! Homemade meatballs

Apron off, glass of Italian red wine (Montepulciano), dinner served!

Rough week. Left in charge of the house through illness.
Household chores, ok, hoovering at night, trying not to make to much noise, hitting everything in sight, leave it to the weekend.

Food, has to be quick, appetizing, not always an easy thing after a full day at work (it’s that multi tasking thing again).

Home made soup and a lump of bread.
My trusted bread maker with timer came in very handy.

Genoese (Minestrone) Soup, I use my crockpot to cook the basic stock and add the pasta 15 minutes before we eat, which just gives me enough time to make the pesto sauce.

With the bread maker on timer, perfect.

Les, hurry up and get better.

He does tend to make his food 'fancy' with all that frothy stuff all over the food.

Underneath all that, I say, he is one of our greatest chefs.

His recipe books are easy to follow and the ingredients are easily available and not to expensive (most of the time).

Cantonese-style Duck, Special Fried Rice and Spinach, I saw it on TV and thought I'd try it out.

After a quick trip to our local supermarket I returned with 2 organic duck breast (and they were on special offer)
First, turn on the oven 190ºC/375ºF/gas mark 5 and get a hand full of peas out of the freezer and let them defrost.

Start with the sauce, finely chop some ginger, about 1 tbsp, quickly stir fry (I used a wok) in 2 tsp of vegetable oil for one minute then, turn the heat down and add 1 clove of garlic (crushed) gently cook for 2/3 minutes, transfer to a dish and leave to one side.

Using the same pan, on a medium heat, put the duck in, skin side down, cook until golden brown, turn the duck over and cook until golden brown, remove from pan, place in a shallow baking tray and put in the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove the duck fat from the wok.

Put the wok back on a medium heat, put in the garlic and ginger, add 3 strips of orange zest (no pith), 8 tbsp of water, and half a chicken stock cube (crumbled up) stir and bring to a boil.
Add 2 tsp of cider vinegar. I always use Aspall organic cider vinegar.
1 tbsp of honey and a dash of soy sauce, then simmer for 5 minutes.
Add a squeeze of lime juice and season with salt and ground black pepper and leave to one side.

For the rice, boil 4oz's long grain rice until al dente, drain and leave to one side.
Stir fry a handful of chopped spring onion in a knob of butter for 1 minute, add a handful of defrosted peas and heat through.
Stir in the rice, add a squeeze of lime juice and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

For the spinach, melt a knob of butter in the wok on a medium heat, add the spinach and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

To serve, slice the duck and drizzle over the sauce, add the rice and spinach.

What do you think?

As we’re in the middle of the strawberry season I decided to make a dessert similar to one we enjoyed at my friends at the weekend. She used a Delia Smith meringue recipe called Eton Mess which is traditionally served on the 4th June at the annual Eton College celebration picnic for prize giving. Story goes a dog sat on a picnic basket and crushed the contents-strawberries-cream-and meringue hence the name.

I wanted it to have the same sweetness in taste but fewer calories and the results are great.

Instead of using icing sugar I used Canderel granular low calorie sweetener and replaced the double (heavy) cream with low fat plain yoghurt.

The yoghurt, strawberries and sweet juice are a perfect combination and look beautiful served in tall glass sundae dishes.