[from seasonal cooking by claire macdonald of MACDONALD] These are delicious, deep-fried balls of melting cheese, with a crisp outside. They are not difficult to make, and loved by all who eat them. The tomato sauce is a good way of using up tomatoes and it freezes well, too. Serves 4--6 [probably the lower end] 2 egg whites 250g Cheddar cheese, grated salt and freshly ground black pepper fresh white breadcrumbs sunflower seed oil For the tomato sauce: 700g tomatoes 4 Tablespoons olive oil 2 onions, peeled and chopped 1 carrot, peeled and chopped 1 stick celery, sliced 1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped 1 rounded Tablespoon tomato purée a few sprigs of fresh basil and parsley salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 tounded teaspoon sugar

Make the sauce first. Cut the tomatoes in half, scoop out as many of the seeds as possible, and purée the tomatos in a blender, or put them in a food processor, skins and all. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the chopped onions, carrot and celery. Cook over a gentle heat until the onions are soft and transparent. Add the chopped garlic, tomato purée, blended tomatoes, seasoning, basil, parsley and sugar. Simmer for 30--45 minutes, with the pan uncovered. As it simmers, the sauce will reduce. Remove from the heat, cool, then whizz in a blender and sieve it. Whisk the egg whites to a froth, stir in the grated cheese and seasoning to form a paste. Roll this cheese paste into even-sized balls, about hte size of a walnut. Roll the cheese balls in the fresh breadcrumbs, and put the balls into the refridgerator for several hours. If you don't have a deep frier, heat some oil in a saucepan, to a depth of about 5cm. As you are only going to be cooking 3 of the cheese balls at a time, you needn't use a large saucean. When the oil is really hot---test by dropping a piece of bread into it, the bread should sizzle---carefully put 2 or 3 balls into the oil, using a slotted spoon. Fry, turning them over, until golden browl all over. Don't be tempted to cook more than 2 or 3 at a time, because this reduces the temperature of the oil so that the breadcrumbs don't fry to a crisp quickly enough to seal in the cheese. Keep them warm, on a disk with a couple of thicknesses of kitchen paper to drain off the excess grease. They keep warm perfectly well for about 30--45 minutes. Serve with warm tomato sauce.