Before I became a mum, I was probably quite sanctimonious about feeding kids. I envisaged my own children sipping green smoothies every morning and thought that if you exposed kids to a food often enough, they would eat it.
Not true. Little ones have likes and dislikes as much as adults do, and with their super-sensitive palates, those preferences are just amplified. And that’s before you even think about texture. Texture, for kids, seems to me to be key. Some, my son included, like things raw and crunchy, others like everything liquidised. Just like adults, it’s all totally down to the individual you are cooking for.
I have spent a long time cooking for kids of all ages. When I worked for Jamie Oliver, we spent six months helping the brilliant Kidbrooke school dinner ladies transform their school’s offerings. When we tried to get the kids to be more adventurous, it struck me that the key was to make small changes – not leaping from plain pasta to moussaka in one go, but to do it in baby steps: pasta with tomato sauce, then pasta with some aubergine, until you get there. After all, eating is learning.
The single most powerful thing I have found when trying to get my son to try new things is for us all to have a meal together, around the table. It’s not a groundbreaking piece of advice, I know, and it’s not always possible, but when we do manage it, he is more experimental, eating off our plates.
These are two dinners that I plan to make as he grows up. Both recipes start with a gentle base (which should be suitable for most kids from nine months up) with a few add-ons for older or more adventurous children – also adults.
I think that’s important when feeding a family – a meal with a bit of interaction, and some choice, so that each member of the family feels in some way in control of their choices. Customisable food. I’m not suggesting that you cook this way every night – cooking is my day job and I still don’t manage that! But do get your kids involved as much as you can: even if it’s just buttering some toast or spreading tomato sauce on a pizza base. It’s all part of the learning.
Toddler-friendly tagine (main picture)
This tagine – the gentle base – is popular with little ones thanks to the natural sweet notes from the dried apricots. I have suggested using some salt here during the cooking process – for small kids I would leave it out. For older kids, try serving the dish with the optional add-on: a garlicky herb smash. They might also enjoy helping you bash the seeds from the pomegranate – just don’t do so near a white wall.
Serves 2 adults and 2 hungry kids
For the tagine
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
½ tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
1 cinnamon stick
3 sweet potatoes, cut into bite-size chunks
2 carrots, cut into bite-size chunks
400g tinned chickpeas
400g tinned chopped tomatoes
100g apricots
Flaky sea salt
For the herb smash (optional)
A small bunch of fresh coriander
A small bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 garlic cloves, peeled
A handful of green olives, pitted
1 preserved lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
For the couscous
200g wholewheat giant couscous
Extra virgin olive oil
1 pomegranate, seeds removed
1 Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan or casserole dish. Add the onion, and cook until it has turned translucent. Add the garlic and spices, and stir until you can really smell their aroma, then throw in the sweet potatoes and carrots.
2 Stir to coat the root vegetables in the spices, then tip in the chickpeas, chopped tomatoes, apricots and add up to 400ml of water – enough just to coat the vegetables. Season with salt to taste, if you like, and cook until the root vegetables are just tender, which takes around 25 minutes.
3 While the tagine is cooking, prepare the herb smash. Finely chop the herbs and garlic (you could use a food processor if you like). Roughly chop the olives and preserved lemon and add to the herb mix. Add the olive oil and taste: you may like to add a little salt, but go carefully as the olives and preserved lemon will be quite salty.
4 When you’re nearly ready to eat, cook the couscous. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, then add the couscous in a steady stream. Cook on a rolling boil for 6-8 minutes, until tender. Drain really well and drizzle with a little olive oil. Stir through the pomegranate seeds.
5 Serve the tagine on a pile of pomegranate couscous with a dollop of herb smash on top for adults and adventurous kids to dig into.
Family tacos
In my experience, the most successful family meals are when there are lots of things in the middle of the table for little hands to reach and grab for – the more colour the better. The salsa in this recipe is quite spicy and is intended to add some punch for the more adventurous palate, so I suggest splitting the salsa into spicy and non-spicy, so everyone is happy.
Serves 2 adults and 2 kids
For the flatbreads
400g white spelt flour (you could use plain flour too)
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp flaky salt
350g natural yoghurt
For the slaw
½ spring cabbage
8 radishes
1 apple
1 carrot
Juice and zest of 1 lime
100ml natural yoghurt
Flaky sea salt
For the salsa (optional)
2 big handfuls cherry tomatoes
½ bunch spring onions, finely sliced
1 red chilli (optional)
1 tsp chipotle paste, or to taste
For the filling
2 tbsp olive oil
½ bunch spring onions, finely sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 x 400g tins cannellini beans, drained
A bunch of coriander, to finish (optional)
1 First, make the flatbread dough. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl, then stir in the natural yoghurt. Mix well until everything has come together into a ball, then get in there with one hand and knead until you’ve got a smooth and slightly tacky dough. If it feels like it is at all dry (this will depend on your flour), you can add up to 50ml of cold water, a little bit at a time, until the dough comes together nicely. Cover with a clean tea towel, then set to one side until you’re ready to cook the flatbreads.
2 Now, make the coleslaw. Slice the spring cabbage and radishes really finely, then combine them in a large mixing bowl. Shred the apple and carrot using the coarse side of a box grater, then add them to the bowl of cabbage and radishes along with the lime zest, half of its juice and a pinch of salt. Add the natural yoghurt. Stir really well until everything is evenly coated, then set aside.
3 Next, make the salsa. Cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters, and slice the spring onions. Add these to a little bowl, squeeze over the juice from the other half of the lime (left over from making the coleslaw). Divide the tomato mixture in half, then reserve one portion for the kids. Finely slice the red chilli and add this to the adult salsa bowl along with the chipotle paste and a little pinch of salt.
4 For the filling, heat the oil in a large pan and add the spring onions. Cook until they are soft and a little coloured, then add the spices. Stir until you can really smell their aroma, then tip in the beans, crushing them a little with your spatula as you stir. Add a pinch of salt, and a splash of water if the beans seem at all dry. Keep the filling warm while you cook the flatbreads.
5 When you’re ready to eat, prepare your flatbread rolling station, as close to the stove as safely possible. Sprinkle the worktop with flour, then tip out your dough. Divide the dough in two, then divide the first half into six pieces. Heat a large nonstick frying pan until it’s very hot, then roll out the first piece of dough until it’s very thin and about 20cm across. Carefully lift it into the pan and cook for around a minute on each side, or until it’s lightly coloured and the surface is littered with bubbles. Repeat with the remaining five small pieces of dough, then divide the second half into six pieces and repeat with those.
6 Serve everything in bowls on the table for people to help themselves. Keep the warm flatbreads wrapped in a tea towel to help them retain their heat, arrange alongside the beans, slaw, salsa and a bowl of coriander leaves for a final sprinkling.
Tips to get kids to eat more veg
One thing I am often asked is how to get kids to eat more veg. I am no expert, but here is what I have learned:
- Lead by example: if your kids see you eating veg it will be normal to them.
- Try offering a rainbow of veg and a favourite dip, such as hummus, before the main meal – unexpected vegetables like radishes, celery and olives are surprisingly successful in our house.
- Keep meal times casual, happy and breezy: stress around food will be picked up by everyone around the table.
- If all else fails, cook lots of veg down into a tomato sauce and put it on everything
- Anna Jones is a chef, writer and author of A Modern Way to Eat and A Modern Way to Cook (Fourth Estate) annajones.co.uk; @we_are_food
