Eat your greens

[Loup321]

My small person, aged nearly 9, is okayish with vegetables, but I'd like to broaden this. She will eat carrots, sweetcorn and beetroot in any way I prepare them. Tomatoes, cucumber, gherkins, pickled onions are also all fine in salad. Cooked tomatoes are fine, and onions as long as they are chopped small (roasted wedges not so appealing) can go in any sauce I make (bolognese etc.).

She doesn't eat greens. As a baby, cauliflower cheese was a favourite, but that is now included in "greens". No lettuce, cabbage, brocolli, anything like that. Peas are suffered (found out yesterday that she likes them at her friend's house, where they only have supersweet petit pois, but she won't eat even the supersweet petit pois at our house, so I refuse to pay more for them ).

I cooked something a while ago with kale. The kale was roasted in the oven with sweet potato, onion wedges and sweetcorn (kale and tinned corn only added for the last few minutes). It was topped with feta cheese and a dressing. She was served everything but the kale, but wanted to try it from my plate ( ). She really likes kale done this way, and we have had this meal a few times since including the roasted onion.

Does anyone have any ideas for other ways to cook greens that are not boiled, steamed or used to bulk out stews or risottos? Or any other flavour combinations that work with roasted kale? I'm very much not an experimenter - I need a clear plan of everything before I start.

There are other veg like mushrooms and courgettes that just don't get touched, but I'm fine with a few dislikes - I don't eat cucumber myself.

Thanks for any ideas!

[feder1]

We like a mix of very finely shredded cabbage and carrot which is then cooked.

The carrot may either grated or shredded with the potato peeler or spagettied with a special scraper.

Cooking this mix is by either steaming or wokking.

A pinch of caraway seeds added before cooking completes a tasty dish!

[Loup321]

We like a mix of very finely shredded cabbage and carrot which is then cooked.

The carrot may either grated or shredded with the potato peeler or spagettied with a special scraper.

Cooking this mix is by either steaming or wokking.

A pinch of caraway seeds added before cooking completes a tasty dish!

Ah, yes, I remember adding caraway seeds to cabbage. I'll give that a go, feder1. Maybe heavy on the carrot and light on the cabbage at the first attempt.

Thank you.

[UncleEbenezer]

How much of the salad I have in front of me would go down well?

Green leaf salad, tomato, beansprouts (big yum), walnuts, with hummus and potato salad[1]?

With ingredients like beansprouts, a kid that age might take an interest in sprouting them if you buy them as dry mung beans.

[1] No, my lunch isn't always so disgustingly "healthy". But I do like it like this.

[genou]

Fry some chopped pancetta / bacon lardons to release the fat. Whilst that is happening par-boil some broad beans ( for this audience make sure they are properly peeled - remove the skin on each bean, don't just pod them ). When the beans are ready toss them briefly with the bacon. For the full effect you should add some Summer Savory, but under current conditions, you can give that a miss.

You can treat sprouts similarly - half the sprouts before par-boiling ( or steaming ) and fry them a bit longer in the pan to get the cut side to brown/caramelise a little. You can add crushed cashews ( or nut of choice - traditionally chestnut, but hard to get at the moment ) to this as well.

[todthedog]

My little one (she is 59), likes sprouts if they are partially precooked then reheated in a pan with lardons a little finely chopped garlic and a spoonful of crème fraiche. She says not like eating sprouts at all.

[Loup321]

Ah, I didn't mention that I don't eat red meat or bacon. Could try those ideas out for her and her dad though.

[genou]

Ah, I didn't mention that I don't eat red meat or bacon. Could try those ideas out for her and her dad though.

Tut!

For yourself ( or whoever you think it might work for ):

try using a little neutral oil to fry off some chopped scallions ( they crisp quite quickly ) to put broad beans in, and a small splash of toasted sesame oil to dress them.

If you/they are pepper tolerant, for the sprouts, finish them in EVOO and let them really brown, and add really good freshly ground pepper along with the nuts at the end.

[servodude]

I posted a recipe in a meat free thread a while ago for roasted cauliflower

I think this should be it: viewtopic.php?p=262887#p262887
- it's crunchy, a bit cheezy, really easy (and goes great with hot sauce)
- you can do almost the same with courgette

- sd

[Loup321]

These sound like really yummy ideas. Thank you to everyone. I will give them a go over the next few weeks / months. I'm "allowed" to introduce something new or previously disliked in a different format about once a month. Of course, I can try them myself at any time!

[Hypster]

Does she like smoothies? I put a handful of washed raw spinach into mine and you wouldn’t even know it was there.

[Midsmartin]

Soy sauce sprinkled over broccoli? I know we aren't meant to eat so much salt, but it often makes vegetables a lot tastier.

[stewamax]

How about pseudo-greens: Tesco has loads of white asparagus at the moment ?

[tea42]

Sweat kale in oil with garlic and a little thyme in a frying pan, add chicken stock and sherry vinegar and simmer. Then add borlotti beans and possibly charred in the oven baby plum tomatoes. Serve with a pork chop...... a summary of Ainsleys recipe from his Mediterranean Cookbook. Available on ITV Player. Lots of kale sweats down nicely..

[Loup321]

How about pseudo-greens: Tesco has loads of white asparagus at the moment ?

Nice idea, but she's not disliking the colour, it's the flavour. She is very good and tries things, so if it tastes like asparagus, she won't like it.

Does she like smoothies? I put a handful of washed raw spinach into mine and you wouldn’t even know it was there.

We don't have smoothies, unless we get a Boots meal deal as a treat when we're out (then she gets Diet Coke). I'm in two minds about smoothies - they could be very healthy with just vegetables, but you can make some highly sugar-laden ones if you just use fruit. I wouldn't be able to find an acceptable balance between flavour and nutrition for both of us, so would get stressed making them, I think. I'm not worried about her health, so I don't think I need to hide veg. She eats a decent bolognese sauce with plenty of veggies in there. I wouldn't put spinach in there because her dad would flatly refuse to eat it. He is one who rejects stuff based on it looking like something he refuses to try, but I've given up on that.

[genou]

Other thoughts - broccoli pesto ( in a cheese sauce pasta bake, but you could add minced onion/peppers ) ; cauliflower rice ; roast cauli ( I'd go curried for this as a distraction ) or this: https://jessicainthekitchen.com/sticky- ... wer-wings/

There is a lot of value in pulses as well if she won't do "greens" ; so something like https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/butter ... ith-dukkah .

My top tip for this recipe is that you can just buy dukkah in the supermarket. But it is gorgeous.