There’s often a gulf between the way that cooking with kids is portrayed – everyone smiling at each other adoringly, working together in harmony and laughing at a brilliant joke – and the reality. We’ve all been there. My top tips to help things move in the right direction are as follows. Make sure to employ little hands as much as possible, to roll, crunch or squeeze. Make food that can be eaten by hand, and that can be served in individual portions, to give a sense of agency and ownership – think cookies, meatballs, mini pastries, stuffed crepes. For the same reason, serve dips and spreads in individual portions, too. Don’t start cooking when everyone is already ravenous. And, crucially, always have plenty of parsley to hand if coriander is likely to jeopardise that vision of smiling adoration from the get-go.
Meatball pastry puffs
These work both for dinner and for a picnic. I’ve used turkey mince, but chicken or pork also work really well, so use whichever meat you like. You’ll need a nonstick nine-hole muffin tin.
Prep 30 min
Cook 1 hr
Makes 9
For the puffs
500g turkey mince, preferably thigh meat and 8% fat, or chicken or pork mince
35g panko breadcrumbs
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp tomato puree
Salt and black pepper
1 egg
1 pink lady apple, peeled
4 spring onions, trimmed
10g coriander, or parsley
320g sheet all-butter puff pastry
For the glaze
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp date syrup
1 tsp sesame seeds
Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4. Put the turkey mince, breadcrumbs, mustard, tomato puree and three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt in a large bowl, then crack in the egg.
Using a box grater, grate one side of the peeled apple into the bowl until you reach the core, then turn and repeat until everything but the core has been grated. Finely chop the spring onions and coriander, put all but a tablespoon of the mix in the bowl and toss to combine. Put the rest of the chopped spring onion and coriander in a small bowl.
Cut the pastry lengthways into three strips, then cut each strip widthways into three equal pieces, to make nine roughly 12cm x 6cm rectangles. Line each hole of a nine-hole nonstick muffin tray with a piece of pastry, then spoon about three tablespoons of the meatball mixture into each one, until all the filling is used up. Smooth and compact the top of the filling with the back of a spoon.
Bake the pastries for 40 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the meat has browned, then remove from the oven, but leave the oven on. Mix the tomato puree and date syrup for the glaze in a small bowl, and brush this all over the top of the filling. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the tops of the puffs and bake for another 10 minutes, until the glaze has browned slightly. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
Transfer the hot puffs to a plate, sprinkle over the reserved coriander and spring onions, and serve.
Tzatziki with crisps
Serve this as a dip, along with some carrot or cucumber batons, maybe, or pile it into a jacket potato (with tuna in there as well, if you like). It’s also a great sandwich filler, especially if combined with chicken, tuna or thick rounds of cucumber. The crisps aren’t strictly essential, but, really, what dish isn’t improved by having a packet of crisps crumbled all over the top?
Prep 5 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4 big (or 6 little) humans
1 cucumber
100g feta
1 small bag salt-and-vinegar crisps (25g)
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
The juice of 1 lemon (2tbsp)
50g cream cheese
250g Greek yoghurt
Fine sea salt
5g chives
Grate the cucumber on a box grater, then put it in a clean kitchen towel and give it a good squeeze to emit as much liquid as possible. Put the cucumber in a large bowl, then crumble in the feta and three-quarters of the crisps. Add the crushed garlic, then squeeze in two tablespoons of lemon juice.Use a big spoon to mix in the cream cheese, yoghurt and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt. Cut the chives into 2-3cm-long pieces, then stir all but a teaspoon of them into the bowl.
Transfer the tzatziki to a shallow bowl, sprinkle over the reserved crisps and chives, and dig in.
