Joanne Roach (00:14)
Hello and welcome to the Food for Kids podcast. I'm Joanne from the Foodies. Today's episode is the April instalment of our monthly roundup of five straightforward family-friendly recipes that use the fruit and veg that are in season right now in the UK. The point of this quick list is to take away a little bit of the mental load of deciding what to make for dinner and at the same time giving you some easy family-friendly ways to incorporate more seasonal produce in your food.
April is the middle of what's known as the hungry gap, is from March to May, where the old winter stored foods are running out, but the new spring foods are still thin on the ground.
So for these meals this month, we'll be using a little bit of fresh seasonal produce, but also a lot of all year round staples and store cupboard favourites, just like our ancestors would have used fermented or canned stores at this time of year. There are some new foods in April and if you want a proper rundown of fruit and veg to buy in April, head over to episode 89 where I gave a fuller list. But here I have picked out three family meals, a dessert and a snack
that can use a bit of an April mix of fresh and pantry saviours. So let's get to those recipes.
My first meal idea is to pair a couple of seasonal sides with a main element that your family likes.
These sides would go perfectly with salmon or battered fish or fish fingers if your family likes to eat fish,
but if you struggle to include fish, these sides would also go well alongside something like a chicken Kiev, a Quorn fillet or a pork chop.
The seasonal sides are using Jersey Royals and Spring Greens. So first, crushed Jersey Royal potatoes, which is basically where you par cook some little jerseys and then press on them to break the skins and then pan fry them or oven bake them in a bit of butter or oil and any herbs you like so that you get a really lovely crispy coating and a great mix of crispy skin and soft buttery potato. I'll link to a recipe for this that children can help to make.
And then for the green side dish, use some wilted spring greens, which are super tasty and cheap right now, and add in some tinned or frozen peas and maybe a leek if you have one. So it's a combination of a couple of seasonal greens with some store cupboard peas.
I'll link to a recipe for that along with a bonus recipe of Jersey Royals with wild garlic, just in case you might have managed to get hold of any while it's in its short season.
So that's recipe one, which is using crispy new potatoes
and bright spring greens to add some seasonal flavour to your all year round favourite main.
My second main meal idea is a storecupboard favourite which is enchiladas. That's basically tortilla wraps rolled up like slim pancakes with a filling of your choice and then baked with a sauce and some cheese over the top. They're brilliant for using tinned and frozen ingredients and often children will try them even if they're a bit hesitant with mixed meals because they look something like halfway between a wrap and a pasta bake.
I'll link in the show notes to two very family friendly, although totally non-authentic recipes. One that uses minced beef sauce, more akin to a bolognese but sneaking in some tinned black beans, and the other one's a veggie version using just tinned beans if you think your child will have a go at them.
My last meal idea is the gold medal of all store cupboard meals, the tuna pasta bake.
There are so many ways to adapt this staple to fit your family. You can add as much or as little tinned or frozen veg as you like to the recipe. Sweet corn, peas or frozen chopped peppers work great.
Or if you think your child's going to struggle with that mix of textures, put those veggies on the side instead and keep the pasta bake part simple. You can leave the topping plain and just have bubbling sauce, or you can add breadcrumbs or even crushed up crisps on top to make a crunchy layer. And if you don't eat fish or if your child struggles with it, I'll also link to a plant-based version which uses some crushed chickpeas for the tuna texture. And if you do want some fishy hints in
you can use capers or nori or seaweed flakes.
Tuna pasta bake is a classic for a reason. It's also good to assemble ahead and just cook at the last minute too. So it's great for those nights where you've got sports or after-school activities.
For dessert this month I've picked a way to use up any end of season British apples that have gone a bit grainy in texture
or just generally to try to help your child to explore cooked fruit textures in a very easy and no pressure way and that's to make flat roll pancakes with caramelised apples.
You can make the pancakes however you like, from scratch, from a packet mix or just buy them ready-made and warm them through. And then make the apples however you think they'll go down best. That might be pan-fried with a little butter and sugar until they caramelise and soften but still in bigger pieces. Or you might mash them down to a more cooked apple caramel sauce. Or if you think that might still be a bridge too far, use a jar of smooth apple sauce instead.
You can have the sauce inside the pancakes for those who want mixed bites on their fork, or you can have the apple pieces on the side or the sauce on the side or even in a dipping pot for those who are more hesitant. It's a really good way to marry a children's favourite of pancakes
with a texture that some kids find challenging, the cooked apple. Both the pancakes and the apple mix can be frozen in portions so it's a good one to save some for later too. The snack idea for this month is using our all year round friend of the banana or plantain and making something fun and frozen which is a frozen banana popsicle. Just basically dipping or rolling halved bananas in melted chocolate and if you like you can roll them in some sprinkles and then freeze them.
If you want something that will keep them fuller for a bit longer, try the Chunky Monkey version, which makes a little sandwich out of two banana slices with nut butter between them before coating it in chocolate. I'll link to examples of both in the show notes, but these are bit quicker ways to use slightly overripe bananas than having to break out the baking equipment for banana bread or muffins.
So that's my roundup of five seasonal family food ideas for April. I'll put the links to example recipes in the show notes so you can find them easily.
And as always, if you give one a try, I'd love to hear how you get on. I'll be back next month with another set of seasonal ideas and I hope to see you later in the week for another episode. But in the meantime, happy eating!
0 comments