RAINBOW CAKE

We got this recipe from the BBC website for a birthday celebration. The cake is very spectacular. I suspect though that children actually prefer a simpler cake with lots of icing.

You need three times the following recipe:

- 125 g soft butter
- 225 g plain flour
- 150 g sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- lots of food colouring: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
- buttercream ( an enormous amount!)
-2 greased and lined round tins

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Mix all the ingredients in a food processor and mix well. Divide the mixture in two and mix each with one of the colours (red and yellow). Put the mixture into the tins and bake for 12 minutes. Repeat this with two more colours (green and blue). And again with the two remaining colours (orange and purple)

Some recipes call for cream cheese icing but we put the cakes together with normal buttercream:150 gr butter, 300 gr icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of milk.

LEMON SOLE

My children love this fish. You can prepare it in minutes.

You need:
- a sole filet per person (it may seem too much for a child, but mine devour it every time; and yes, it is not cheap, but it is after all very good fish. It does not work as well with other white fish, but we tried it once with haddock and it seemed fine)
- butter
- a handful of parsley
- one and a half lemons (for 5 people)
- salt
- flour

Wash the fish and pat dry it with a clean tea towel. Melt two spoonfuls of butter on a large pan. While the butter melts, salt the fish, dust it with the flour and shake it a bit so that you get rid of any excess flour. Fry the fish (skin side down) for 2 or 3 minutes, then turn it around and fry it again for a couple of minutes. Take the fish off the pan. Add 2 table spoons of butter to the pan. Once the butter melts add the parsley, let it fry for 30 seconds and then add the lemon juice. Pour the sauce over the fish.

The parsley splutters a lot, so be careful. If you are scared of spluttering, add the lemon to the butter first and then add the parsley (it will be less crispy but very nice anyway)

Sole is a good fish for children to get used to eat fish with bones as it is very easy to see where the bones are.

HAM AND CHEESE EMPANADA

This is so easy that it hardly qualifies for a recipe, but it makes a nice quick 'comfort food' lunch. You need:
- a roll of puff pastry
- ham (enough slices to cover half of the of pastry, normally 4 or 5)
- cheese (cheddar or edam or alike - again 4 or 5 slices. You can also do this with grated cheese)
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons of creme fraiche or three tablespoons of double cream

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Cover a tray with baking paper. Put the puff pastry on top and prickle it with a fork all over the surface. Put ham slices on top of half of the pastry. Then put the cheese slices on top of the ham. Beat the egg with the creme fraiche and pour it on top of the cheese. Fold the uncovered half of the puff pastry over the cheese. Press the borders with a fork (as in the picture) so that the egg and melted cheese does not get out of the pastry. Prickle the top of the pastry with a fork (you can also paint the pastry at this stage with a beaten egg if you want it shinny). Bake for 20 minutes. Eat warm.

The children helped with it all except for handling the trays in and out of the oven.

CAPONATA

You need:
- 2 aubergines
- 1 onion (chopped into small cubes)
- three cloves of garlic (chopped)
- 3-ish tablespoons of olive oil
- salt
- 1 tablespoons of capers
- a handful of green olives - you can use black olives if you prefer them.
- 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
- a handful of pine nuts
- 2 peppers
- juice of half a lemon
- 1 tablespoon of (good) red wine vinegar

Preheat the oven at 220 degrees. Put the aubergines on a tray and rub them with a little bit of olive oil. Put the peppers on the tray as well and roast them all for 40 minutes. Take them out of the oven, peel the aubergines and the peppers and chop them into small cubes.
Separately fry the onions on some olive oil until they start getting golden. Add the garlic to the pan and continue frying them for another 5 minutes or so until they start getting brown. Add this to the aubergines (including the frying oil).
Toast the pinenuts on a pan and add them to the aubergines too. Then add the capers, olives, parsley, lemon juice and vinegar. Taste and add some salt of necessary.

The flavours of this dish are very strong, but children seem to like it (though my children, understandably, fish out the cappers). You can keep the skin of the aubergines on (which makes a nicer and prettier dish) but children seem to prefer it without the skin. 

COURGETTE AND CARROT CAKE

This is a hybrid between a quiche and an omelet. It works very well for lunch with a salad.

You need:
5 eggs
200 ml of  creme fraiche ( or 150 ml of double cream)
2 grated courgettes
3 grated carrots
a handful of grated cheddar ( or any other hard cheese)
salt and pepper
a tablespoon of flour
a little bit of butter (one little cube)

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees.
Grease a quiche mould (or any round mould) with butter and sprinkle it with the flour.
Whisk the eggs with the creme fraiche. Add the courgettes, carrots, salt and peppers. Put the mixture into the mould. Sprinkle it with the cheese. Bake fit or 30-35 minutes (or until the top is golden).

It is meant to sink a bit after it could down.

Children can help with it all but be careful with the grating as it is difficult for them  to understand that a grater can be as sharp as a knife.

ROAST PEPPERS

It takes a while for children to like this taste, but it really is the taste of the mediterranean sun. The peppers go well with any grilled meat, grilled tuna, fried eggs, omelet or just with bread... and they are full of vitamin C.

Just get 6 big peppers (the bigger the better). Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Put the peppers on a tray and add a bit of water on the bottom of the tray (half a glass more or less). Put the tray into the oven and roast the peppers for 35 minutes. Then turn them around and roast them for another 30 minutes. They should come up rather black.  Let them cool down and then peel them (it is easier if you put them into a pastil bag as they are cooling down). Add 3 tablespoons of the liquid that the peppers have produced while you were roasting them, 3 table spoons of olive oil, one and a half tablespoons of good vinegar and salt.

You can keep them for a few days in the fridge or freeze them  provided you do not add oil and vinegar.

SALTY CAKE

This is a very simple salty cake that you can adapt as you wish.

You need:

250 gr flour

one teaspoon baking powder

150 ml sunflower oil

4 eggs

150 ml buttlemilk ( or 100 ml milk with 4 spoonfuls of yogurt)

150 cubes of butternut squash (you can get rid of this if your children do not like it but it makes it is about the only healthy bit of this cake)

150 gr of cubes bacon

75 gr grated cheese

salt

(you can also add peppers, paprika, or any other spice you like)

Preheat the oven at 185 degrees and grease and line the cake tin ( we used a loaf cake one but you can use any shape you wish). Mix all the dry ingredients. Then mix separately all the wet ingredients (i.e. eggs, buttermilk or milk and yogurt, and oil). Last, mix dry and wet ingredients together. Put in all into the cake mould and bake for 40 minutes.