Jo Pratt
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 8 mins
Ingredients:
2 medium courgettes
250g ricotta cheese
70g peas
70g sweetcorn
75g self-raising flour
½ teaspoon paprika
1 heaped tablespoon chopped mint, basil or chives
finely grated zest of 1 small lemon
2 eggs, lightly beaten
olive oil, for frying
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Veg Portions / Serving: 1
Recipe donated by Jo Pratt for Veg Power. Recipe from In the Mood for Quick Family Food by Jo Pratt. Photography by Gareth Morgans| www.garethmorgans.com
As delicious as pancakes are smothered in syrup or jam, they don’t always have to be served as a sweet treat. Making savoury pancakes using a selection of tasty veggies and creamy ricotta cheese are super simple to make and taste fantastic.
In my house we often have them at the weekend for breakfast, but you might also like them as a nutritious snack after school, or even for lunch or dinner. But let’s not stop there… any fritters that don’t get eaten straight away can be packed into your lunch box for school the next day.
Method:
Grate the courgettes and put into a bowl. Add the ricotta, peas and sweetcorn, flour, paprika, herbs, lemon zest, eggs, and season with salt and a twist of black pepper.
Mix with a spoon until combined.
Put a large frying pan over a medium heat and pour in about 1cm of olive oil.
Add large spoonfuls of the fritter mixture and flatten out slightly to form round pancakes. Depending on the side of your pan you will probably fit around 4 fritters at a time. Cook for 3-4 minutes each side, until they are lightly golden and they feel firm to touch.
Keep warm while you continue to cook the rest.
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
Get kids to crack the eggs into a bowl (it might take some practice before the bowl is eggshell free, but they have to start somewhere, and you can always fish any stray pieces out). They can also grind the black pepper and mix everything together in the bowl.
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.
Jo Pratt
Similar recipes
