6th January – Pea Souper

Hard won - Dried peas

Once again the garden was filled with thick, pungent smoke as four years worth of damp chipboard and MDF, sorted from the deliveries of demolition timber, were thrown into the cleansing flames. Another area of the garden has been reclaimed and though the place will never be smart or particularly tidy, it is starting to look a lot better.

 The main highlight of the day was eating, and all the cutting wood and hauling things around gave me a serious appetite. Every summer I negotiate with Em for a few peas to be left on the bushes and harvested dry to make my favourite ham and pea soup. I say negotiate, as she guards her fresh peas jealously, falling into sensual rhapsody's about vegetable linguine every time the pale green pods are ready for picking. Back to the point. Dried peas and ham stock (from cooking the Christmas ham) were simmered yesterday until the peas were swollen and tender then liquidised today to make a thick, khaki concoction from heaven.

Dinner

Spicy pheasant meatballs in a tomato sauce served with pasta. The quest for novel game dishes continues as the shooting season enters its final weeks. Today's invention was pretty successful and certainly went down well with Em, who I noticed, dipped into leftovers every time my back was turned!

Spicy pheasant meatballs in tomato sauce

Ingredients

Boneless pheasant meat from breast and thighs

Belly pork (roughly half the quantity of pheasant meat)

Dried oregano

Crushed garlic

Tomato ketchup

Worcestershire sauce

Seasoning

Plain flour

Onion

Tomato passata

Chilli powder

Paprika

Seasoning

Sugar

Method

• Use a food processor to thoroughly ' mince ' the pheasant and belly pork in batches.
• Put the processed meat in a bowl and combine thoroughly with other ingredients in the first group, using only a little flour to bring the mixture together.
• Fry the finely cubed onion, then add the other ingredients in the second group when the onions have become soft and translucent, adjusting the amount of chile used to taste.
• Bring the sauce to a simmer, then forming the meat mixture into small balls, drop them in.
• Put a lid on the saucepan and simmer for roughly 3/4 of an hour.
• Remove meatballs and thicken the sauce with cornflour if necessary, then recombine to serve.