If you don’t want your children to become fussy eaters, why not wean them on a steady diet of Yotam Ottolenghi recipes?
That’s what Claudine Boulstridge did – but not necessarily by design. French-British chef Boulstridge has been Ottolenghi’s recipe tester for 17 years now – meaning that pretty much every recipe from his cookbooks or Guardian column have come through Boulstridge’s Welsh kitchen before going out to the masses.
“They grew up on Yotam’s foods,” Boulstridge says of her three children, now aged 10, 12 and 15. “They would eat the recipe testing with us, or I would even blitz it up when they were tiny and couldn’t chew everything.
“So they’ve had every vegetable” – which Boulstridge, 45, suggests has “helped” them become adventurous, unfussy eaters.
Plus, some French attitudes to food has permeated Boulstridge’s household just outside Cardiff.
“I’m half French, so I grew up in the French way of: you ate exactly what your parents ate, and you would never give [children] something else,” she explains.
“There were no menus where you were giving them different things in French restaurants. It’s little things like that – if you start them from young having just a starter, or sharing your main, or something like that, then they get used to it.”
Boulstridge’s children have been to school in France, and also found the lunches there were vastly different to what her kids get in Wales.
“They literally have mussels on the menu and octopus, and the most unbelievable stuff that they would never serve here – so they have a massive advantage. Their kids are not going to be fussy because [of what] they’re being served at school.
“Here, if they’re being served chicken nuggets, your kid might come home and say, ‘Well, I quite like that. Can I have some chicken nuggets?'”
She remembers her youngest “begging for more curry and really strong flavours” that people might not think to give their children, but her mentality was “to give them absolutely everything”.
Boulstridge met Ottolenghi at the prestigious Leiths School of Food and Wine, where they were both teaching: “Then 17 years later, he’s still sending me recipes every week, so my family are very lucky and get to eat all of his food for free.”
She bonded with Ottolenghi over their shared love of bold flavours – which Boulstridge got a taste for in her childhood, moving every three years all over the world due to her father’s work as an engineer.
Boulstridge says she “loved” Ottolenghi’s recipes, explaining: “I’d grown up in the Middle East for part of my childhood, so I loved all the Middle Eastern-style flavours – it reminded me of that. And he obviously loves Mediterranean-style food, which was what I had at home.”
The chef set up her Instagram account @healthyfamilyfoodideas in 2016 as a “food diary” for herself, combining her passions for cooking and photography. Her children were smaller then, and she says it served as a way to “remind myself when they like a recipe” – with a focus on healthy, easy recipes that are full of flavour but won’t involve lots of time or washing up.
Now, Boulstridge’s account has over 48k followers, and it’s helped lead her to writing her debut cookbook, called Family, where there is the same focus on nutritious and simple dishes.
“Even though I’m a chef, there is hardly any chopping” in the recipes, Boulstridge suggests. “It’s mostly one pan, because I can only have so much washing up – I’m drowning in it every day with recipe testing. I don’t want extra washing up.”
There are also other qualifications for Boulstridge’s recipes. “I needed a lot of it to be portable, so when it was ever nice weather in Wales: oh my goodness, we’re going to the beach after school, so I need a dinner then, because they’re [her kids] starving and we’re not coming back until later. So I needed to be portable, same with snacks.
“Everything I was designing was for me, for my lifestyle, for my three kids – for on the go, for I’m hungry, but you need something nutritious. I feel like it’s my family in a book, it’s everything we’ve eaten over the past 15 years, condensed down.”
And Boulstridge really put those recipes to the test in the past few months, after breaking 13 bones in her wrist snowboarding.
“My husband didn’t even cook once, so I did everything with my left hand, or I did all the tricks that I learned over the years,” she recounts.
“So I’ve always bought frozen vegetables, whether it’s frozen roasted vegetables or chopped onions, if you don’t want to chop onions. A lot of my one-pan dishes, you put all the vegetables in a food processor, blitz it up and then cook it in one tray – so there was hardly any washing up, because washing up with one hand is not easy either.
“So everything I already did, went to another level… all those tricks were paying off, and I cooked every single night since I broke my arm, with smashed-up bones in my wrist.”
Ultimately, the snowboarding accident forced her to be “even more creative”, saying: “It made me force myself to make things even easier… I’ve got recipes that I wish were in my book that I’ve done the past four months since I broke my arm. Maybe that’s book number two.”
Meatballs with a creamy tomato sauce
“These creamy, gut-healthy meatballs are the perfect one-pan dinner for busy weeknights,” says Boulstridge.
“Not only are they delicious, but they’re also so simple that children can get involved in making them! Younger kids can help measure and roll the meatballs, while older ones can grate cheese, chop herbs and sear the meatballs for a fun family cooking session. A hearty, nutritious meal everyone will enjoy.”
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
For the meatballs:
250g minced beef (20% fat, not lean)
250g minced pork (you can also use minced chicken, venison or lamb)
50g Cheddar cheese, grated, plus extra to serve
½ tsp ground allspice
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp passata or low-sugar ketchup
1 tbsp olive oil
For the sauce:
300ml passata
150ml reduced concentrated chicken bone broth
90ml double cream
To serve:
270g dried or fresh spaghetti, cooked according to the packet instructions and drained
2 tbsp shredded fresh basil leaves
Method:
1. In a large bowl, mix together all of the meatball ingredients, except the olive oil, along with half a teaspoon of flaked sea salt. Use your hands to combine everything thoroughly, then roll the mixture into small, tight balls, each about the size of ping-pong balls – you should have around 30 meatballs.
2. Heat a large sauté pan on a high heat and add half the olive oil. Once hot, fry half the meatballs, for five to six minutes, turning occasionally, until golden brown on all sides. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining olive oil and meatballs.
3. To the same pan, add all of the sauce ingredients. Let it simmer and reduce for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened.
4. Return the meatballs to the pan and simmer for another five minutes.
5. Serve hot with spaghetti, sprinkled with extra grated cheese and the shredded basil leaves.
Coconut cod with greens and zesty lime rice noodles
“This quick and tasty dish – think of it as a healthier version of fish fingers – is packed with good fats from coconut and seeds, as well as high-protein hemp, fish and eggs,” says Boulstridge.
“It’s both nutritious and delicious, and the creamy, fragrant lime sauce makes it a hit with adults and children alike.”
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
25g ground sunflower seeds
25g shelled hemp seeds (or more sunflower seeds, but hemp is now available in most supermarkets)
50g desiccated coconut
4 skinless, boneless white fish fillets, such as cod (about 400g in total), sliced into long, thin strips, about 2cm wide
1 large egg, beaten in a shallow bowl
2-3 tbsp ghee or olive oil, for frying
1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
275g cooked ready-to-eat fine rice noodles
70g greens (eg. cavolo nero, kale or spinach), shredded
To serve:
4 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves (optional)
2 tbsp sesame seeds, for sprinkling (optional)
Method:
1. In a large tray, mix together the ground sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, desiccated coconut and one teaspoon of flaked sea salt.
2. Dip each fish strip into the beaten egg, then toss in the crumb mixture, ensuring an even coating.
3. Heat a large sauté or frying pan on a medium-high heat. Once hot, add a third of the ghee or oil and cook a third of the fish strips, frying for one minute per side until golden and crispy. Be careful not to overcook as they cook quickly.
4. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Repeat with the remaining ghee or oil and fish strips.
5. Pour the coconut milk into the same hot pan and reduce on high for three minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add the shredded greens to the coconut milk and simmer for another two minutes until just tender. Add the noodles, stir and divide between four wide bowls.
7. Squeeze over the lime juice, then top with the crispy fish strips.
8. Finish with a sprinkle of coriander leaves and sesame seeds (if using).
Blueberry Danish pastries
“These six-ingredient, low-sugar pastries are unbelievably simple to make and will quickly become your favourite healthy breakfast treat,” says Boulstridge.
“Not only are they delicious and beautiful, but they’re also packed with blueberries – often hailed as a superfood for their numerous health benefits.”
Makes: 8
Ingredients:
1 x 320g ready-rolled rectangular all-butter puff pastry sheet
220g fresh blueberries
150g cream cheese
3 medium egg yolks
1½ tbsp good-quality vanilla paste
3 tbsp runny honey, for drizzling
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 210C fan/gas mark 8 and line the baking tray with baking parchment.
2. Cut the puff pastry sheet into eight equal rectangles and place them on the lined baking tray, leaving a little space between them. Using a sharp knife, lightly score a one-centimetre border around each rectangle, being careful not to cut all the way through. Prick the centre of each pastry several times with a fork to prevent excessive rising.
3. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until golden and puffed. Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 180°C fan/gas mark 6.
4. Meanwhile, mash 80 grams of the blueberries in a bowl, then mix in the cream cheese, egg yolks and vanilla paste until smooth.
5. Gently press down the centre of each pastry rectangle, keeping the outer border intact. Divide the cream cheese mixture evenly between each one and then top with the remaining blueberries.
6. Return to the oven and bake for a further 17 minutes, or until deeply golden and set.
7. Let them cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before serving. Drizzle with honey and enjoy!
‘Family’ by Claudine Boulstridge (Bluebird, £26).
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