April showers & warm focaccia
Welcome to the first Growing Appetites newsletter
Hello Friday!
My hope is that this Growing Appetites newsletter will become a helpful culinary elf on your shoulder each Friday morning when it lands. As a journalist, writer on Waitrose Weekend and member of the Guild of Food Writers, I’d heard about the growing Substack movement, but here’s why I jumped on board now:
1. Sharing the love
I enjoy cooking good food, and I love it when those I feed show appreciation (who doesn’t?). I baked Jordan Bourke’s spelt focaccia on Sunday morning to share with friends for lunch. Kids and parents alike scoffed it down and looked delighted when I suggested I send over the recipe. Two days before an old friend had called to say her three year-old might have a dairy allergy and I found myself rapidly firing across suggestions for dairy-free meals as well as substitute products. The previous weekend I reworked a fruit cake recipe and an appreciative recipient requested it. I thought this could be a good place to share the love.
2. Cooking for kids
This second point can be a trial. My goddaughter recently had a Category 1 meltdown over a lamb tagine. The diagnosis? Tiredness. The prognosis? Good once a frozen Frube was brandished. That same evening my two boys, aged 6 and 3, looked at me with abject disappointment when presented with an (admittedly daring) chicken liver curry, which they tried before polishing off the rice and potato instead. I did reassure them that I would try the offending meat with pomegranate molasses next time in a recipe they were sure to love (Yalla Yalla chicken). Cue looks of resignation. The point here is that it’s good to be adventurous, but cooking for kids can be a chore. We all need a little inspiration and I really hope to help with that.
3. The big idea
This newsletter will land every Friday morning, in time for the weekend and will share my meal planner from the previous week. I plan seven evening meals including one or two new recipes from my cookbook collection or online, because it’s fun and how I learn. Here I will share the winners, the failsafes and musings on the not-so-brilliant moments. I will link to recipes online where available or suggest alternatives, share recipes I have adapted to make more kiddie-friendly or speedy and direct readers to my most-loved cookery books. Each week I will also share the method for a delicious tip or hack.
When our two boys arrived, I was determined to eat as well as we did beforehand. Thankfully they’ve joined in with gusto, helped in no small part by the fact they are VERY busy small people who expend a lot of energy then need to refuel. This is them taking a short break…
Spring #1 Meal Planner
Friday: Beetroot soup & spelt flatbreads or rye bread toast
Saturday: Bang bang chicken salad & brown rice
Sunday: Spelt focaccia with hummus and olive oil followed by ox cheek stew with greens (we were entertaining and a friend brought a pud of French pear tart)
Monday: Cauliflower risotto with pangrattato
Tuesday: Pork chops, pointed cabbage & brown rice with ricotta dip and (hot) sauce butter pine nuts
Wednesday: Jacket potatoes, cheese, leftover ricotta dip, fried butterbeans & rocket salad
Thursday: Leftovers (this turned out to be cauliflower risotto)
Find tips for each one below with links to recipes where possible (click the name):
Beetroot soup. This is THE QUICKEST and simplest recipe. Especially if you have made and frozen a batch of chicken stock (see my method below). I love the note lent by cumin seeds, gently fried with onions. I didn't bother making the spiced yogurt but added a dollop of Greek yogurt into each child’s portion to cool it down. This is my spelt flatbread recipe, or why not toasted rye with butter? The original soup recipe is in the book River Cottage Everyday by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall.
Bang bang chicken salad. This recipe by Jordan Bourke is a great way to stretch two chicken breasts between four hungry people and will be a winner if your kids love crunchy veg and peanut butter. I used a low salt chicken stock cube to gently poach the chicken breasts. You then whisk some of the poaching liquor into your peanutty dressing, making it super creamy. The kids loved this one. I left out the chilli and served with lime wedges, which they find fun. The original book is The Natural Food Kitchen by Jordan Bourke.
Spelt focaccia followed by ox cheek stew. I bake with a lot of spelt – a type of ancient wheat grain that’s lower in gluten and easier on your tummy – and this is another Jordan Bourke recipe from the same book. It proves over about two and a half hours so is great for a weekend morning. Cherry tomatoes are rubbish at this time of year so I snipped up chargrilled artichokes and studded the top with them. The beauty is you can serve with whatever antipasti you have handy. It somehow feels special. I use less salt in the recipe - a pinch, with a light sprinkling on top. The ox cheek stew recipe above is similar to the one I used. Pots of ready made (500ml) beef stock from Waitrose are fantastic instead of sherry. I leave out the peppercorns too (not kid friendly) and add a tin of tomatoes and a dash of Dijon mustard. Instead of frying carrots, I roast them with whole shallots in honey, vinegar and olive oil at 180 (fan oven) for 25 minutes then add to the mixture before allowing to simmer gently for three hours. Serve with potato and celeriac mash.
Cauliflower risotto with pangrattato. This is a Jamie Oliver recipe where he takes a basic white risotto (follow link), but chops the tender part of a cauliflower stalk (I chop the smaller leaves too) to sauté with the onion. Break the cauliflower into florets, add them into your pan of hot simmering stock then gradually ladle and press them up into your risotto as you stir. A pangrattato is a topping that adds a wonderful crispy texture. This is simply breadcrumbs whizzed up with a small tin of anchovies in oil then fried until crisp and brown. Just watch they don’t burn. From the book, Jamie’s Italy.
Pork chops (seared in the pan then roasted), pointed cabbage (chopped, rinsed then fried in the same pan I used for the pork with a little extra oil - it should be hot so the cabbage caramelises slightly), brown rice and then this clever little pine nut ruse. My kids love pine nuts. I toast them in a little cast iron pan then remove from the heat and add the ingredients from a recipe in Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage. Butter, olive oil, crushed garlic and a little sweet smoked paprika then drizzle them over a cool, creamy cucumber and yogurt mixture. You can find the full recipe in her book. It’s one of my newest and is full of punchy flavours, but so far the reaction has been positive. I just leave out most of the chilli.
Fried butterbeans - I always make at least two meals a week that are seriously low maintenance and jacket potatoes often fit the bill. This week I drained and rinsed a tin of butter beans then fried them in a pan with some olive oil. If you want them crispy (which I did), just let them sit for a bit. Don’t be tempted to stir around straight away. You want them to crisp up on each side. Nice with something creamy (see above), jackets, cheese and a little chilli jam (for me).
The delicious hack - chicken stock
Homemade chicken stock wins for flavour. I weaned my two on the stuff. My trick is to buy a pack of organic chicken wings (cost £3.80/400g), which I put into a stock pot with about two halved onions, a few sticks of roughly chopped celery, a couple of carrots, some peppercorns and a bay leaf. Then maybe some parsley if I have it, and fennel. Perhaps a handful of spinach. No cabbage cause it smells sulphurous when boiled. I cover with water and bring to the boil, skim any scum off the surface then simmer very gently for about two hours before straining through a colander into bowls and allowing to cool. It makes about 1.5 litres depending on how much water you add. I freeze into 500ml portions and always feel very organised when it’s stashed away in the freezer.