Mediterranean Kitchen for Mothers

Introduction

I'm a cook and I have two beautiful daughters. So it doesn't take an enormous leap of the imagination to understand how this cookbook came about. Still I would like to share some thoughts on being a young parent and on the type of 'help' that is offered to us.

Sometimes I feel that the biggest industry in modern society is the production of fear. Parents are bombarded with messages that leverage on our anxiety of being lacking, insufficient. Of course there are products and services being sold this way, not only by news-organizations and security-businesses, but also by counsellors, pedagogues, and by the food-industry. Now I'm not trying to disqualify entire categories gratuitously and generally. What I object to is people's apparent willingness to relegate their judgment to 'experts'. A picture comes to my mind – and no, I didn't make this up – of a one-time client that finished a glass of milk that was clearly off, because the expiry date told him that it still was good. I told him that he could trust his sense of smell, but I guess that he felt safer without the responsibility of his own judgment.

Warning: I am not a dietician, nor a pediatrician.

I'm just a cook and a father who considers it a great waste that many parents grab the jars of instant food automatically. I couldn't get myself to feed my daughters the type of indeterminate drab pastes that I wouldn't eat myself. So with the help of the (Italian) mother and grandmother of my children, I started on a road of discovery – not by myself, but together with my children. And this is the beauty and essence of it. Children are self-willed – thank goodness! - and the 'dialogue' of food is prior to many others, so we have to proceed empirically. As parents we continuously introduce new things to our children, and some of them might not be appreciated (immediately). But if there's one thing I want to show to my offspring, it would be the beauty of travelling beyond what you already know.

The purpose of this book is to show that good, healthy, wholesome food is easy to prepare, for all ages, and regardless of the horrible lack of time that comes with parenthood.

Often, recipes are the result of elimination, of omitting ingredients that are too spicy, or an alternative is presented to a cooking procedure (the so-called soffritto) that is rather heavy on a tender digestive system. This is not a rule-book, but it might help you on your family's travels through the world of food. And don't be discouraged. I remember how my eldest daughter could throw her portion on the floor, looking at me with disdain. But I could always try again, as long as I took her comments seriously.

Lists of ingredients were kept rather loose, so as not to suggest the false security of offering no-fail-food-kits. No two carrots in the world are exactly the same. The important thing is to start tasting, to keep tasting, and to finish tasting some more. As to quantities your personal experience at home is definitely more valid that what I could estimate, but considering the common scarcity of time I would suggest to prepare more than you need, so you can freeze something nice for a busy day.

Ingredients:

2 cups of water

one tomato

a carrot

5 to 10 green beans

1 potato

Brodo vegetale - Baby-bouillon

This baby-broth is the basis for many of the dishes you can start to give to your child.

Start simple, lean, and light and embellish on it gradually, by adding more challenging ingredients.

• Bring the water to the boil.

• Add:

• a tomato in pieces
• a skinned potato, in pieces
• a handfull of green beans
• a carrot, in pieces

• When the vegetables are done, your broth is ready.

• Step by step you can make your broth more exciting by including:

an onion or shallot, a piece of pumpkin, a clove of garlic, sweet peas, a leaf of lettuce, a sprig of parsley, a basil leaf, etc.etc.

Tip: A devious parental trick is the addition of a piece of apple or pear that (like pumpkin and carrot) renders your bouillon – and subsequently your porridge – a little sweeter and therefore more palatable to some children.

If this can get your child across a threshold, I wouldn't hesitate a second. After all, it's mother's milk that's sweet, and though forever after we will probably not enjoy a meal so completely satisfying, this doesn't mean that we all are destined to become sugar-junkies. If a little apple allows you to introduce a number of new tastes, and more easily, please don't worry. Discovery is a practice, not a moral.

subsequently...

This broth is a great starting-point for many nice little dishes. It is a vessel of taste and an instrument of efficiency. Remember that in the old days – oh yes, the old days! - bouillon would be made in between the fancier stuff, with ingredients that otherwise (and nowadays) would've been thrown out and/or fed to the pigs; a bone here, a fish-head there, those vegetables that can't be left around any longer – they might not be acceptable to our digestive system, but they are to our palate.

The crucial difference with the old days surely is our level of affluence – we can simply afford to throw away not only leftovers, but also perfectly fine food. The bottleneck in modern life – which convenience food speculates upon – often is our lack of time. And in the case of child-rearing and the kitchen I surmise a lack of confidence as well.

I'm telling you right now, and I'll repeat that if you wish, that it is not difficult to cook something good and healthy for your children, and that you don't need to spend too much time on it either. It mostly comes down to organizing your time well, and to picking the right moment. You'll always find 5 to 10 minutes to put your pot on the stove. Then it can simmer sweetly all by itself. And your efficiency will be rewarded. No convenience food can compete with the fruit of your attention. And you can get your child started on a life-long adventure in a wonderful world of food and taste.

And there's a last aspect that I find worth noting. If we relegate our meals to the sorry corner of bare feeding, we lose track of the social importance of sitting down together and enjoy. We forget to dedicate attention to what we eat, and to whom we eat it with. I'll give tips on how to turn your baby-food into something worthwhile for your adult tastes as well. This way you'll cook just once, not twice, and eat together after.

Turn it into a complete meal!

While the unsalted bouillon can be transformed in a savoury little porridge, by stirring in some durum wheat semolina during a couple of minutes, salting the rest would be a good first step in making it attractive to you own taste. And add some black pepper, if you like.

This salted broth can be used to poach some fish, for example. Just be careful not to leave it in too long; when it's lost its shiny transparency (all through) you'll have to fish it out. Leaving it longer will make it stringy and dry.

On the side you could enjoy some rice or pasta that you can cook in the same broth. Or if you're smart, you threw in some extra potatos for yourselves to start with.

Ingredients:

½ lb. of ricotta

½ lb. of pumpkin or spinach

1 egg

flower

salt, pepper

extra vergin olive oil

a whiff of grated nutmeg

grated old pecorino

butter, sage

Malfatti: spinaci o zucca – little Mishaps: spinach or pumpkin

This dish is a bit more elaborate, but it is worthwhile for the whole family, when you have the time. It has a delicate taste, a soft texture, and is easily digestible. And they are playful and tractable for the youngest too, which makes a meal easier to manage. Dit gerecht is iets bewerkelijker, maar het is zeker de moeite waard wanneer u iets meer tijd heeft.

You can make your mishaps with pumpkin or with spinach.

• Start by cooking your vegetable of choice.

You can poach, steam, or microwave it. The last method is easiest, particularly because it's fast and because you need to reduce the water-level in your vegetable to avoid that your mishaps fall apart. To cook them in your microwave you either wash and dry the spinach / skin and cut the pumpkin in ½ inch pieces, and place them in your microwave in a closed container. It should be done in a couple of minutes, depending on quantity and power of your microwave.

• Bring a large pan of water to the boil.
• Strain the excess juice from the vegetables (squeeze!) and chop, mash or blend it.
• Mix it with an equal amount of ricotta, the grated pecorino, salt, a spoon of olive oil, nutmeg and pepper. Incorporate 1 to 2 eggs with a fork or whisk.
• Incorporate flower, bit by bit through a sieve, mixing well, just until it binds (too much flower makes your mishaps sticky). Check when the water boils by easing in a lump with two dessert spoons. If it sticks together you can go ahead with the rest, otherwise add some more flower to your mix.
• When your malfatti float to the surface, they'll be ready in another half minute. Take them out with a skimmer and ease them in a wide dish.

This would be the easiest way to serve your malfatti:

• Melt some butter on low heat and add a few sage leaves (don't chop or it'll become bitter). Leave to macerate a minute or two and pour it over your malfatti.

They splendid as well when served with a not too heavy tomato-sauce, but maybe you'll burn all your energy on your little mishaps.

Besides, they say that sage blesses your children with tranquil sleep.

Ingredients:

a dogfish or another small shark

a few tomatoes

extra vergin olive oil

a lemon

a handful of parsley

a couple of basil leaves

salt

if you like:

a clove of garlic

Gattuccio di mare - Dogfish

Gattuccio di mare means sea-cat literally, but for some reason the British have perceived more similarity with another animal. In any case, it is ideal for small children.

It doesn't have fishbones, but cartilage that is easy to separate from the meat. So ironically I suggest this shark for your children for safety. And if you don't overcook it, it holds up pretty well after poaching, which is another advantage, since other preparations can turn out rather heavy on the stomach.

• Cut the tomatoes in ¼ inch pieces en mix in a bowl with: some chopped parsley and basil, a tiny pinch of salt, a nice dash of extra virgin olive oil, a tablespoon of lemon juice, and if you like a clove of garlic, skinned but whole. Stir once in a while so the flavors can mingle.

• Bring a pan of water to the boil.
• Cut your shark in steaks, width of a little under an inch. Take care to slice them in approximately the same size, so cooking-time won't vary too much.
• When the water boils, drop your shark-steaks in the water.
• Poach, but not too long. When the meat has lost its shine, and you can ease it off the bone, it's done. Don't overcook, or it will be dry and tedious to eat.
• Arrange the steaks on a dish and garnish immediately with the tomato-mixture (do discard the garlic, if you decided to use it).
• Leave to cool and serve. Separate the meat from the bone for your child, and for yourself of course.

Tip: don't throw away the broth; check out the recipe for couscous.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 cup / 2 sticks of butter

2 cups of flower

1 cup of sugar

½ cup of grated coconut

4 tablespoons cocoa

a pinch of salt

Torta ciòcocòco - Chococococake

• Mollify the butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon or mixer (you can soften it in the microwave for a few seconds, but don't exaggerate. It shouldn't melt). Stir in half of the sugar. Mix well and add two eggs. Repeat this procedure, add the salt and stir to a creamy, homogeneous batter.
• Divide the batter over two bowls and finish one of the mixtures with ¾ of a cup of flower and the coconut, and the other one with the rest of the flower and the cocoa.
• Grease a cake-tin or muffin-mould and sprinkle with flower. (Or use those wonderful silicone moulds.) Preheat the oven to about 325º F / 150º C.
• Tilt your mould – by leaning it against your cutting board for example – and ladle in one of the mixtures. Rearrange the mould and pour in the other mixture quickly on the empty side. Twirl with a spoon for a marbled effect.
• Bake the cake(s) for 45 minutes to 1 hour. When a toothpick comes out clean it's done.

Tip: For extra rising-power you can add a teaspoon of bakingsoda when incorporating the salt, but it's not necessary.