Fish & Chips

I suppose it was reasonably inevitable that my little guys would turn into foodies. The inevitability in no way detracts from the pride I feel when I hear my son evince appreciation for good flavour. He loves fish and chips, and asked for them tonight. When I make them at home, I use good quality veg, responsibly fished salmon and wholemeal crumb, so I love this dinner for the healthy side of it, and the fact I know it will get polished off. 

Plus, as my son is nudging closer to four, he's getting more and more helpful in the galley. You might be surprised to hear that I'm not one of those mums relishing the chance to let the kids loose in the kitchen. I'm a control freak by nature, and the kitchen is unequivocally MY domain. I'm also a bit of a neat freak and there is nothing neat about kids and cooking. Nonetheless, all that has had to fall by the wayside somewhat, given my son's interest in 'helping' me cook dinner. It's a great chore for him to feel a part of (what is more central to a family than meal preparation?).

So tonight, he crumbed the fish, taking great care to equally coat the pieces (and spilling - gulp - less breadcrumbs on the  bench than you might have expected). 

Pumpkin Gnocchi with Kale Pesto

This is deceptively simple and quick. I've wanted to try a vegan gnocchi for a while and I cannot get over how Amazeballs this is.

I used about a cup of organic raw pumpkin, cubed, which I boiled until al dente. Then, I drained and put in a large bowl. Add between a cup and a cup and a half of spelt flour and stir with a wooden spoon until a dough forms, then turn out into a chopping board and knead some more.

I find the best way to make gnocchi is to roll it into long snakes and then chop into 1cm pieces. 

Put the gnocchi pieces into a bowl and refrigerate for twenty minutes until firmed up. Meanwhile, set a pot of water boiling and add some olive oil and salt. 

(My little helpers love to watch the cooking action)

Boil the gnocchi pieces for around 3-5 minutes and then strain.

 Serve with your topping of choice (I made a kale pesto with kale, walnuts, Parmesan, garlic, evoo). 

Home made Pesto Pasta

I know it doesn't look it, but this pasta is a super quick and easy dinner for mid-week. The only downside is it makes a few pots and pans, and nobody likes doing dishes, right? Still, the domestic disturbance of dirty-dishes is definitely worth it for the taste of this super divine dinner. 

Ingredients: 

a handful of basil/parsley - I used what I could get from my garden. 

about 50 - 100g parmesan cheese, roughly chopped. 

a handful of Brazil nuts and walnuts

1/4 cup organic olive oil. 

a cup of dried pasta - I used organic penne. 

Optional 'serving suggestions' - a soft poached egg on top, and a balsamic reduction on the plate beneath. 

Get two pots of water boiling (if you're doing an egg - one for the pasta, one for the poaching biz). Onc eit comes to the boil, add the pasta to one pot, and to the other, a dash of white vinegar then let it come back to the boil. 

Meanwhile, in a food processor (if you have one, if not, I've made pesto by hand for years, just by either chopping finely or with a morta & pestle), combine the washed herbs, parmesan, and nuts, and blitz on high speed, whilst drizzling olive oil in. You might need to stop to scrape down the sides a couple of times to be sure you've incorporated all ingredients. 

Once the pasta is cooked according to packet instructions (usually about eight minutes) strain it and return to pot. Add the pesto, and stir until combined. 

Leave to cool a little whilst you do the eggie. 

Crack an egg or two into the rapidly boiling water then put the lid on. Once it's about to froth and bubble over, turn the heat off (remove from heat if using electric). Remove the egg from the water using a slotted spoon and serve on top of the pasta. 

As for a balsamic reduction - I love this for it's sweet/sour nature. When you put balsamic in a pan and add heat, it quickly thickens and reduces, courtesy of the natural sugar content. It will be piping hot pretty quickly so handle with care!

Chicken Nuggets (Super Healthy!) GF, Dairy Free.

I was speaking to a friend of mine yesterday about the junk foods our kids have come to love (despite best efforts to steer them into making better food choices - kids are human, too!). My friend was saying that chicken nuggets are her daughter's weakness. Having eaten them once, she is smitten! Once I got off the phone, my own little brood were jumping up and down begging for nuggets - whoops. 

Fortunately, I had some free range chicken thighs in the fridge. I actually find these are a reasonably easy dinner to make. Not quick, but there's something quite methodical about the technique, so long as your little people are under control (mine were watching Frozen, aka, the ultimate distraction). The best thing about this recipe though is the hidden veggies. You can use whatever you have to hand to form the base and simply add the protein (if you're vegetarian, a fetta or cheddar is great). 

You'll need:

A mix of veg (I used 1 celery stick, 2 mushrooms, a whole zucchini, a whole onion, a whole carrot, a little cauliflower). 

1 - 1.5 cups spelt flour (rice flour will substitute)

2 small chicken thighs

rice crumbs or similar for finishing

Oil for frying (I always use organic extra virgin olive oil but coconut is fine too, just lower your temp a little). 

Preheat oven to 175'c fan forced. 

In a food processor, blitz all the vegetables until a thick paste forms. Add the chicken and continue to blitz until incorporated. 

Add the spelt flour, a half cup at a time, until you have a wet dough (don't worry that it IS wet - if it's too dry they will be tough). If your kids are older and into seasoning, add a squeeze of lemon juice, a pinch of nutmeg or some pepper. Don't salt them if you can avoid it. 

Transfer the mixture from the food processor to a bowl. 

Put the crumbs in a separate bowl. Take about a tablespoon of the dough and form into a ball. Place into the crumbs, coat both sides. 

Heat the oil in a large pan on medium high heat and place the nuggets in. Fry until browned on both sides (about five minutes). Finish on the oven - around 175'c for 25 minutes. 

Leave to cool then serve. These quantities made 24 nuggets, which would have been enough for three meals for my two children. If my husband hadn't eaten all the leftovers!! 

Pumpkin & Spelt Cob (yeast free)

I love baking bread, but lately I've been experimenting with soda loaves. It's not that I think yeast is bad, per se, but too much of anything's not great, and a different type of bread is just another string to le bow, no? 

I'm also playing around with hidden veggies at the moment - ways I can increase my kids' intake without them declaring "But I don't *like* salad, mum!", which is what my three year old declares when anything green even touches his plate!

Ingredients: 

About 1.5 cups mashed pumpkin or sweet potato

3 cups spelt flour, sifted

2/3 cup full fat milk

1 tablespoon bicarb soda. 

Pre heat oven to 190'c and line a tray with baking paper. 

Combine bicarb and milk and set aside for ten minutes, stirring gently occasionally. It will thicken quite impressively. Meanwhile, cook your pumpkin and mash - no need to add anything else. 

Combine the milk milk, spelt and pumpkin in a bowl until you have a loose dough. Don't worry that it's not the consistency of a regular dough. As long as it is firm enough to hold a rough shape, you're good to go. Tip the bowl out and form a round cob shape on a tray lined with baking paper. 

Bake for around 50 minutes then leave to cool another 20 minutes or so. 

I served it cut through the middle and topped with sliced pear, sauteed mushrooms and goats feta. 

Salmon & Peach Salad

This dinner goes into the 'food on the table in under ten minutes' file. We literally walked in the front door from scootering the sidewalk and by the time my small fries had got their shoes off and washed their hands, I was just about ready to plate up. 

Ingredients: 

1 salmon fillet (ideally wild caught, but if not, antibiotic free)

2 hard boiled eggs (I always have a supply to hand but if not you can do this while you cook the salmon)

1 organic potato, peeled and sliced into thin rounds (like crisps)

1/3 cup frozen organic peas

1 peach, deseeded and finely sliced

Olive oil for frying and dressing

Defrost the salmon in the microwave for one minute. While this is happening, get your eggs boiling if you don't already have them prepared. Transfer the salmon fillet to a small skillet and fry with a little olive oil over a moderate heat. 

Place the thinly sliced taters in a microwave safe dish and cover with water. Microwave for circa 4 - 5 minutes (depending on the strength of your microbeams) until al dente. Meanwhile, prepare the peach and flip the salmon so that it's browned on both sides and cooked evenly. 

Transfer the cooked potato to the salmon skillet and gently move around to flake the salmon and coat the potato in a little oil. Add the peas. 

Leave to fry on a low heat for a minute longer while you peel the (by now) hard boiled eggs and slice finely (I used one of those nifty egg slicers that doubles up as a little-person-guitar. You know what I mean). 

You're done. Assemble the salad and top with a little extra organic EVOO to serve. 

My kids LOVE this, and you can obviously vary the ingredients to include your own child's favourites - strawberries, or chickpeas in lieu of salmon. Just try to get a balance of veg, fruit and protein. 

Vegetarian Sausage Rolls (GF, could easily be vegan)

Yesterday was one of 'those' days in my house. A day where it felt like little master three had a serious conversation with miss one and between them, they decided to pull out all the stops to make me want to rip my hair out. No naps, toilet training accidents, tantrums for no reason, and 36'c and extreme UV outside, leaving us more or less house bound with a very frazzled set of personalities by the end of the day. SO, for dinner, I needed something that would hold them quiet and still for at least fifteen minutes (essential decompression time for this mum!). Enter the sausage roll. And a glass of wine.

I make my pastry using a recipe that was my husband's grandma's, and it's a cinch. If I'm doing big batches, I use the food processor, but for a small amount like this, I just go by hand. I even melt the butter completely and (so long as I then have time to rest it in the fridge) it works perfectly. To make it vegan, you can switch out butter for a nut butter or, preferably, a virgin organic coconut oil. 

Ingredients

For the pastry:

110g butter (about 80g coconut oil or, if it's melted, maybe 1/3 cup). 

225g spelt flour

A few tablespoons of water

For the filling: 

1 kipfler potato

1/2 small sweet potato

1 carrot

1/3 cup peas 

About 50g goats feta (exclude for vegans)

Melt the butter so that it's liquid but not molten, then remove from heat. Incorporate the flour until you have the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the water tablespoon by tablespoon until you get a pastry dough consistency and knead until it's well combined (don't overdo it or it can get tough). Gladwrap it and put it in the fridge. 

Peel and chop the vegetables, with the exception of the peas (save them for later). Put in a saucepan covered with boiled water and continue to cook for around ten minutes or until al dente. Strain and mash, then add the goats feta and peas and continue to mix. At this point, you can add in any additional seasonings - more chopped cheese, fennel seeds, spring onion, basil, etc. 

Remove the pastry and roll flat (about 2 - 3mm). Scoop the vegie mix down the center and form sausage rolls. 

Bake at 180'c for 25 minutes. I served these with a homemade tomato sauce but they don't really need anything (you have probably guessed that yesterday was not a day for arguing if I didn't have to). 

Enjoy!