What is it with kids and vegetables?

When M. was younger, she ate almost anything, cucumbers (fresh & fermented), tomatoes, pumpkin, cauliflower, beans (all kinds), you name it, M. would try it. Then like a light switch flicking off, she now only eats a few things like potatoes. It's like kids carry a common program that kicks in about two or three, stopping them from enjoying veggies. We all know when the program has booted up, cause all kids say "It's Yuk" in common, even before actually trying a vegetable for the first time.

As parents our job is to trick them into it, which is not so easy as all kids are fitted with special detectors. Saw a program where a television chef cooked three different vegetable dishes for four children, only one child admitted liking one dish, she must have had a faulty program or detector.

So it's great when you stumble upon a dish that is based on a vegetable, that both you and your children enjoy. Noodling around in Marcella Hazan's Essentials Of Classic Italian Cooking, I came across a recipe for a pasta sauce, that was so simple and sounded so good, that I was amazed that I hadn't noticed it before. That's the beauty of rereading favourite cookbooks, sometimes something jumps off the page at you.

Pasta with Broccoli Sauce
adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking


2 heads broccoli
8 tablespoons olive oil
6-8 anchovy fillets
2 cloves garlic
pinch chile flakes

Cut broccoli into florets, trim stalk and cut into pieces. Cook in boiling salted water for five minutes until tender. Drain, reserving water to cook pasta. Chop broccoli florets and stalk into fine pieces, the florets should almost disintergrate. Put the olive oil into a pan, Marcella suggests placing this pan over boiling water, adding anchovies and breaking them up with the side of a wooden spoon. What I did was to put the pan over low heat, and put the anchovies through the garlic press with the garlic into the oil, warmed the oil to infuse for a few minutes, then added all the broccoli.

Stir through and if it seems to dry add more olive oil. Boil 500 g (1 lb) pasta in reserved water plus extra if needed, until done. Take enough pasta and broccoli sauce to feed the kids and mix. In the remaining sauce add chile flakes and mix with pasta.

Note: don't drain the pasta until completely dry, try and use shell or similar pasta to catch the sauce, that way the kids can't scrape the sauce off. Son A. suggested parmesan cheese was too sharp, maybe Romano would be a better choice.

Daughter M. ate the whole plate and asked for seconds.