Jeanette Orrey MBE
Jeanette worked in school catering for 20+ years. She co-founded Food for Life, was awarded an MBE in 2011 for her services to school food, was a member of the School Food Plan Expert Panel.
Jeanette’s Ratatouille Pasta
Jeanette Orrey MBE
Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:
Serves: 8
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Ingredients:
250g macaroni, penne or twists (tri-coloured would be fun)
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
350g red or white onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1 medium red pepper, deseeded and roughly diced
1 medium green pepper, deseeded and roughly diced
225g courgettes, trimmed and roughly diced
1 medium aubergine, trimmed and roughly diced
2x 400g tins of good Italian tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 teaspoon mixed dried herbs
150ml water
Veg Portions / Serving: 2
Recipe donated by Jeanette Orrey MBE for Veg Power. Food photography by Claire Wright | addsomeveg.com
You can use any combination of vegetables for this dish – look at what is in season, they will be cheaper and really taste good, and this recipe is so quick.
Method:
Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a saucepan and gently fry the garlic and onion for about 5 minutes. Add the other 2 tablespoons of oil, along with the peppers, courgettes and aubergine and continue to cook over a moderate heat for 5 minutes.
Add the canned tomatoes, tomato puree and herbs. Pour in the water, reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for another 25- 30 minutes.
Meanwhile in a large saucepan of boiling water, cook the pasta for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain, then mix with the vegetables. Warm through and serve
Remember, if you use different vegetables the cooking time of those vegetables will change from above.
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
There are lots of hands-on things for the kids to do here, including peeling garlic and measuring out the oil, tomato puree, dried herbs and water.
Activities
While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.
Sensory
Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.
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