My husband made some yummy beef kalbi (Korean short ribs) that are marinated in all sorts of yumminess including mirin, kiwifruit and 7up (yes, 7up!). He grilled the beef along with some gorgeous striped eggplant, and served with brown rice and a plain salad. 
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My husband made some yummy beef kalbi (Korean short ribs) that are marinated in all sorts of yumminess including mirin, kiwifruit and 7up (yes, 7up!). He grilled the beef along with some gorgeous striped eggplant, and served with brown rice and a plain salad. My eldest cried out when he saw his plate, “I hate eggplant!” and so I told him to give it one taste which he did then made a disgusted look. So, I said to just give it to me (it was so delicious). I reminded him of other times he’s had eggplant and liked it.
“No I didn’t” was his reply. My middle son echoed it. Whatever.
So two nights later I made a summer stew with eggplant, kale, baby potatoes (some from our “garden”— pathetic effort this year), sweet potatoes, chicken, chickpeas, tomatoes, garlic, fresh ginger, onion, Middle Eastern spices and cilantro. 
It was so good and we were in a rush to get places so I even packed up my middle son’s in a thermos flask to eat on the road.
Funny thing is they both devoured the dish and when I mentioned that there was eggplant in it, my middle son denied that it was even there. I had to physically point it out to him. He then tasted one piece and said, “Oh, Ok.”
So… sometimes it’s just how you serve it. Alone, grilled, in a dish with many other items, raw, steamed, baked, with certain spices, etc… It may not be received well one way, but they may actually like it done differently.
I find with many kids it can be the texture that puts them off with certain vegetables, that’s why raw over cooked or vice versa may be preferred.
Mis en place is a term in cooking which means everything in its place— before you cook. This is one thing that I’ve picked up from my husband. I used to be a bit rash in my cooking and not have everything prepared before I began to cook but that can be tricky especially when cooking with ingredients that need to be added in quick succession.
I needed to use up the remaining chicken thighs that I’d used in the previous night’s dinner and I also had some eggplant I wanted to use. I found a Mark Bittman recipe that I thought sounded delicious. It was a vegetarian dish but you can add meat to it. I added the chicken; lamb would be perfect too. It is something that can’t just be thrown together without prior prep, but it’s worth it! You will need to have all the spices mixed, the ginger, garlic, veggies and chicken chopped prior to cooking. It takes about an hour. 
Mark Bittman’s Curried Coconut Eggplant with Potatoes (and Chicken)
I cut the recipe in half because I only had one eggplant. I also added one small zucchini. It was enough for the 4 of us plus there were leftovers for 2. This is the original recipe:
Prep the eggplant first by peeling, cubing and salting. While draining mix the spices, (I ground the coriander seeds with a mortar and pestle.) Then mince the ginger, slice the garlic, and peel and cut them the potatoes. Mix all the spices together then prepare the tomatoes. (To peel slice an X into the bottom, dunk into boiling water for around 20 seconds then put into ice bath. Skin will come right off). Put oil and mustard seeds into a pan over medium heat and cover for about 3 minutes when they began to pop. Add rest of spices, ginger and garlic and cook, stirring often until the ginger and garlic are soft. 
Next add tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, chicken and coconut milk. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring every so often. Add chicken and cook for another 15 minutes. 
(While that was simmering I put the rice on so it would be ready at same time.) Add zucchini (optional) and if necessary some more coconut milk, salt and pepper then continue cooking for about 15 minutes (uncovered). Once time is up, stir in the lime juice and serve over rice.
You can also cook the rice in coconut milk (half water, half coconut milk) if you’d like.
My sons loved it! I loved it! My eldest liked it so much that he finished his brother’s after he’d devoured all of his! 
It was a bit spicy for my middle son but he ate it with a mix of pleasure and pain and lots of water. I hadn’t adjusted the cayenne but noted it for the future.
One of my favorite movie scenes is from Ratatouille when the hardened hard-to-please food critic tastes Remy the rat’s ratatouille and the scene quickly shifts to him as a young boy coming home upset and his mama putting a plate of ratatouille in front of him. I love how it shows how a taste brought him back in time to a fond memory. Food smells and tastes can have a strong effect upon us and seemingly transport us in time.
I love ratatouille (the vegetable medley) and first learnt how to cook it from a James Beard cookbook my mother had owned. I used to add mushrooms though. Maybe that’s where my youngest gets his mushroom genes from. It was these thoughts running through my head as I attempted a different way of cooking ratatouille.
To me ratatouille is a fall dish. A cold evening warm-you-up dish. But, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers are in season right now. Seemed like the perfect time to make it. Since it’s summer, I thought grilling the vegetables made better sense. I was planning to grill some chicken anyway. I found this recipe I liked by Emeril Lagasse and only changed it a little to accommodate what I had in the fridge or garden. This recipe is time consuming, so beware. 
Grilled Vegetable Ratatouille
Coat the garlic with olive oil and roast in foil boats on grill until soft. 
Coat each vegetable (not tomatoes) with olive oil, salt and pepper and grill, turning several times, until soft. Peel the bell peppers (if you put over flame to blister outside then pop it in a paper bag, the skin comes off easier). Once vegetables are cooked cut into ½ inch pieces. 
Crush garlic and toss with tomatoes and all the vegetables (except Hungarian hot peppers). Add herbs. Drizzle a little vinegar over vegetable mix and separate into two bowls. 
In one bowl add the chopped Hungarian hot pepper. This way you can control the heat factor for the kids. Mine like some hot things (wasabi, chili) but not all. The grilled pepper sweetens and loses some of its heat when it’s grilled, but not enough for all my little ones’ palates. 
I served it with a grilled half chicken (coated in olive oil, s&p, chopped sage and rosemary). Since the bones were still on the chicken it took at least 30 minutes. I kind of lost track of time with refereeing kids’ squabbles and the ratatouille making. I also made some just-picked Swiss chard about which my 3 year old declared “I love it!”.
The ratatouille was deemed “delicious” by my 8 year old. When I asked my 6 year old if he liked it he humorously responded “red” by which I eventually understood to mean “no”. My 3 year old refused to try it. Since he had seconds of Swiss chard, I didn’t make him taste it. It was still on his plate and one day, he might even say it was “delicious“ and remember the dish fondly as an adult. Until then he will get served a small amount and soon will be made to try just one bite. No dessert for any of them since they didn’t finish— it’s my way of ensuring the healthier foods get eaten: eventually.
BTW, I served a soft tortilla and some ate it whole but my eldest made the chicken, brown rice and Swiss chard into a burrito; which my middle son soon followed suit. It’s a great trick to make food fun.
One of my favorite foods is duck. I love it done so many different ways- seared breast, braised leg, confit, you name it. I saw a D’Artagnan Magret Duck breast at our local store so I picked it up. It’s fairly expensive, but since it was just the boys and me, I got one to share. The kids haven’t had it in a while, but I was fairly certain they’d enjoy it. I looked through several recipes to see how I should prepare it and I noticed many with oranges or Chinese Five Spice, but I didn’t want it done either way. I remembered once having a confit salad with a cumin scented dressing and loving it, but crème fraiche was the underlying ingredient — I didn’t have any. Since one of the recipes I glanced at was just sprinkled with 5 Spice before cooking, I figured I’d just sprinkle some ground cumin, plus salt and pepper, on the breast and grill it. 
I trimmed some of the fat and scored what I had remaining, then threw it fat side down first. I don’t like my duck overdone but not totally rare either (I’m more cautious with kids) so it took about 7-8 minutes each side. 
We’d picked up our CSA bin and had a beautiful eggplant (which I forgot to photograph before I cut it) and a large green zucchini (looked like a different type of squash— could have cross-polinated) that I decided to grill as well. I have never had much success with eggplant with my kids, but I keep trying. I figure one day they’ll like it. 
I cut both lengthwise and salted the eggplant first, which helps remove bitterness, then coated with olive oil and pepper. I got a little bit of rainbow chard this week, so I steamed that as I’ve posted before.
I also cooked up some cannelinni beans (white kidney beans) I’d soaked earlier in the day. I boiled them with salt, 2 bay leaves and a Penzey’s Shrimp/Crab Boil Spice Mix (peppercorns, a small piece of dried chili, cloves, mustard seeds and few coriander seeds). Great flavor! 
Unfortunately my timing was off and we were sitting down to dinner by the time the beans were soft enough. I’ve usually been a canned bean girl, so I’ve got more to learn on using dried beans. Since the beans weren’t ready, I used up some brown rice we’d had the other night. That worked well anyway, since I used up left-overs and my youngest wouldn’t eat a single bean.
Complete success with the duck. The boys and I loved it. We could have eaten another breast, actually. The cumin was a perfect spice for it. My youngest asked if he could have the left-overs for snack the next day, but I had to tell him we’d eaten all and there were no left-overs! 
Eggplant, not much of a success. Not one enjoyed it (well, I thought it was delicious). I made my youngest try “just one tiny piece” in order to get dessert and he was not too happy about it. He ate it and quickly downed some milk. The chard is usually always a winner (nobody fighting over it, luckily, this time). 
And the zucchini was tasted but only a few pieces eaten by my middle son. Tonight I’ve got to think of something they’ll all enjoy. Oh yea, I have some magic beans and corn from the CSA. Now, for lunch alone— sandwich of grilled eggplant and zucchini, sundried tomatoes and mozzarella.
