Chilli Cheese Balls

We are not self-sufficient, but we do pretty well! One of the key ways to make your harvests last is to make items you can store that you can call on in the winter months. When we first started growing, I found myself freezing bags and bags of veg and then still having alot of this left in the spring. Obviously I do freeze and can veg – being able to pull out some carrots and beans to steam in January is super, but having food stuffs you can pop into the oven from frozen means quick suppers, snacks and even food for parties! Chilli cheese balls are my most favourite party food: easy to make, taste great cold or hot and uses up all the odds and ends of bread too!

Ingredients:
500g (ish) grated courgette
500g leftover bread ends (or breadcrumbs, crackers, even crisps can be used!)
250g cheese (any hard cheese)
1 onion
3 chillies (or as many as you want)
1 egg
tbs of plain flour (if required for rolling)
Salt/pepper to taste

Method:
1. Grate courgettes (I used a food processor).
2. Wring out water from the courgette in a clean teatowel.
3. Process bread into crumbs. I always save the ends of loaves of bread for this purpose.
4. Use food processor to puree onion and chillies.
5. Grate or crumble cheese (depends on type). Again I often freeze bits of leftover cheese and just use a mixture of cheeses here.
6. Mix together all ingredients in large bowl.
7. Add egg to bind. I sometimes add a little bit of flour. Just look for a texture you can roll into balls.
8. Season. I then cook a tiny bit in greased frying pan to check seasoning before rolling the whole batch into balls.
8. Bake at 175 degrees C until golden (around 30 minutes). You could fry if you wish.

N.b. All the amounts here are approximate – you can just do this to taste and use what you do have. Replace the courgette with winter squash, carrot or beetroot! Add herbs or even other bits of vegetables e.g. peas or sweetcorn.