Eight out of ten parents don't realise that toddler's nutritional needs are not met if they eat the same meals as adults, according to a new survey by growingupmilkinfo.com. Try this tasty and nutritious recipe for orange spaghetti from toddler chef Fiona Faulkner.
Fiona says: I must confess, this is one of my favourite recipes, and it does have a pretty good success rate. Here are a few tips:
- While you’re organising your ingredients, have the carrots left out and ask your child to arrange them in order of size, smallest first.
- When they’re bored of that, get them to count out the sage leaves for you, 1–10. Encourage them to smell the sage, and talk about their lovely dark green colour.
- You'll need a food processor for this recipe.
Ingredients
- 50 g (2 oz) unsalted butter
- About 10 fresh sage leaves
- 3 shallots, chopped into small pieces (or a finely chopped small–medium onion)
- 400 ml (14 fl oz) hot vegetable stock
- 25g (1 oz) pine nuts (optional)
- Enough fresh or dried spaghetti for a family of four
- Grated Parmesan, to serve
Serves 4: 2 adults, 2 kids.
Peel the carrots and slice them into small discs. As you do so, throw them into a nearby bowl. You could make it into a fun game – ‘hey, do you think I’ll be able to get this one into the bowl, or will I miss?!’ Any that land outside the bowl can be yours to eat (‘mmm, that one’s mine!’). Offer one to your child. Oh, and don’t eat too many – we need them for the recipe!
Melt the butter in a large non-stick saucepan over a medium heat. As it starts to get very hot and frothy, carefully add the sage leaves (if your child is still watching, you could count them in together). Gently fry the sage leaves until they go a bit crispy (about 2 minutes). Then, very carefully, remove them and set aside.
Just as carefully, add the shallots or onion to the same pan – still over a medium heat – and sauté for 1–2 minutes. The butter may be a bit brown in places but don’t worry. Add the carrots and stir-fry for about 2 minutes until everything is mixed through.
Now add half of the stock. Everything will come up to an immediate simmer. Over a low–medium heat let it all simmer for about 15–20 minutes, stirring from time-to-time. Basically you want the carrots to soften and absorb all (or most) of the stock. After 10 minutes or so, you might want to think about cooking up some spaghetti.
Once the carrots are cooked and most of the stock absorbed, leave it all to cool slightly. Then add the reserved sage leaves and stir through. Next blitz it all up in your blender or food processor. Your kids may like to see this in motion – but do warn them it will be noisy. Use as much (or all) of the remaining stock in order to create a sauce-like consistency that you know your kids will like.
Stir through the pine nuts and you’re done! Simply use as you would any other pasta sauce. My kids love it with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese. I think this, along with the pine nuts, make it feel like an orange ‘pasta pesto’.
You can find out more about Fiona's cook book '25 things kids hate' containing over 75 recipes and fun ideas to get your kids eating healthily at www.fionafaulkner.co.uk.