Yes, My Kids Do Eat Their Veggies

I love a quiet Saturday for cooking, and today was a busy day in my kitchen:
Breakfast: Fried Eggs with Polenta
Lunch: Turkey Sandwiches (not that earth shattering)
Dinner: Pasta with Romanesco Cauliflower and Roasted Sea Bass

Not to mention that, in between, I made fresh baby food purees of peas, carrots, and mango, and a batch of our very own butternut squash soup for tomorrow.
The main item of note was the Pasta with Romanesco Cauliflower. While walking through my favorite market, DePiero's, I saw a pile of Romanesco Cauliflower, and immediately thought it would be fun to show my daughter. She likes cauliflower, and, because she's a curious, goofy toddler, she likes all things wacky. I quickly chose a head of this psychedelic vegetable to bring home. Naomi preferred the cauliflower plain, and liked it both raw and boiled. The recipe I tried is below, but allow me to digress for just a moment.

At our house, it's sort of an if-you-cook-it-they-will-eat-it-or-at-least-try approach. Some of the tips for making this work, at least in my house, are these:

• Let your kids wander with you in the produce department. Teach them to stay close to you and the cart, but allow them to ask what everything is and to choose the items that look good.
• Explore favorite produce in various preparations or varieties. Have a taste test of raw and cooked veggies. If your child loves broccoli, try broccolini or broccoli rabe. Do they like it when tossed with a bit of olive oil and garlic? If it's cauliflower, try roasted with garlic or mashed with parsnip. Likes cantaloupe, how about Crenshaw melon?
• Find produce that's your child's favorite color. Around here we get excited about yellow varieties of tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, and beans. We also discovered that Naomi loved eggplant because she was in a really purple-loving mood one day at the store. We watched it turn colors while cooking and it's been a favorite of hers ever since.
• Try, like I did today, to pick things up with strange names or shapes. The pumelo is popular in my kitchen these days because it's an "egormous" grapefruit. The romanesco cauliflower of tonight's meal is a "crazy cauliflower" with spikes, and "isn't that so silly?"
• Figure out a safe way for your child to help you cook. Let him watch the food you chose together at the store change shape and color. Make sure he has a job, so he's really helping you make it.
• In any case, if you end up with an item that you're not sure how to prepare, look it up. Don't let that be a reason not to try it, and don't let that be the reason your kids don't try it.
• Our rule is that you have to try it. One bite is enough, and if you don't like it you don't need to eat any more and we'll find something else. (If you really don't like it you can VERY politely spit it out. This has only happened twice.)
• And please, never tell your child what they do and don't like. What not to do:"Oh, that's a (fill in the blank), you won't like it." Instead, try: "That's a ______. Can you believe how (big/bumpy/shiny/pretty) it is. Would you like to try one?" If you've never seen something or eaten it, tell your child that. Suggest trying something new together. Don't go too over-the-top, but try to make the item seem interesting, mention a few ways you could use it at home. It's no guarantee that your kid will say yes, but at least it's your kid who will decide. Yes, sometimes food will get wasted, or you'll end up eating something you don't like best because your child won't finish it. But you never know what item is the one she'll love.

A Pluot Lion

Black Bean, Corn, and Pepper Burrito

This is a trick I read about in a parenting magazine a while back: Use a bag clip to hold the soft taco shell closed. My daughter also used it as a handle. She thought it was so funny, and ended up eating two burritos. Afterward we thought of other foods we could eat in that kind of wrapper with a clip. Her only complaint, she wishes the clip were yellow. Guess what I'm looking for on my next trip to the store?

Pasta with Romanesco Cauliflower
adapted from Rachel Eats
A head of romanesco separated into florets, and stalk cut into small pieces
Extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed with the side of a knife
Freshly grated parmigiano
Salt and pepper
Red pepper flakes, optional
1 lb of a pasta that will hold sauce well. I suggest something with lines or curls.

1. Boil salted water in a pot big enough to hold the cut-up cauliflower.
2. Rinse the cauliflower. When the water starts boiling, add the cauliflower and boil for 5-8 minutes over medium-high heat. The cauliflower should be very tender and break easily when pierced with a fork.
3. Remove the cauliflower from the salted water with a slotted spoon, but save the water for the pasta! Bring it to a boil again, adding more water if needed for the amount of pasta you’re cooking, and cook your pasta al dente according to the package directions.
4. While the water is coming to a boil or the pasta has just been added, in a large frying pan, heat up a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, pepper flakes, and cloves of garlic. Let the garlic and pepper infuse into the oil for a few minutes. Remove garlic cloves.
5. Add the cauliflower florets and saute them over medium-high heat, starting to gently smash them with your spoon so they break down into an almost-creamy mixture.
6. After the pasta is drained, mix together the pasta and the cauliflower off the heat and add an extra touch of good olive oil.
7. Serve with a generous sprinkle of parmigiano.