It is a truth universally acknowledged that most children have a highly skeptical opinion of the value of eating vegetables.
Everyone I know has a story about hiding their peas under their chicken bones to avoid eating them; or scooping pumpkin onto their sibling’s plate when said sibling wasn’t looking; or surreptitiously passing vegetables to their pet dog under the table. As long as parents have believed in the value of feeding their children vegetables, children have taken it as a point of honour to outwit, outsmart and outlast parents at every turn in an ongoing and heroic battle to avoid these villainous vegetables.
But…
What if you could persuade your child that what they are eating is in fact a fun treat and not a dreaded vegetable? It is another universally accepted truth that kids like pizza. Vegetables are boring; pizzas are fun. Vegetables are school nights; pizzas are weekends. Vegetables are Skodas; pizzas are Ferraris.
So what if you renamed something boring – say, for example, fish fillets with a tomato sauce – gave it a sprinkle of cheese, and called it a pizza? You could be on to a winner that will keep all members of the family, from the tallest to the smallest, happy.
As far as getting them to eat the wonderful green beans pictured though, you’re on your own, buddy!
PIZZA FISH FILLETS (serves 4)
Ingredients:
about 1kg firm white fish fillets
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 Tbsp sugar
200g grated cheddar or other cheese of your choice
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tsp dried oregano
Method:
Heat the tomatoes and sugar over medium heat in a small saucepan together with half the garlic. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
Rinse and pat the fish dry. Spray a shallow oven-proof dish with olive oil spray and lay the fish fillets in it. Brush with olive oil and scatter the onion and remaining garlic over the fish. Season with salt, pepper and oregano.
Spread the warmed tomatoes evenly over the fish, then sprinkle the grated cheese over the top. Bake in the oven for 30-45 mins or until you can flake the fish. Turn on the grill for the final few minutes to brown the cheese.
I served mine with brown rice and sautéed green beans with toasted almonds.
