The first are the courses generally most appreciated by children: prepared with the right ingredients and presented with care, they can encourage them to eat and turn into (almost) complete dishes, very precious in the warm season
In summer, children don't want to be at the table. They want to run at the beach, or at the playground, or in the lawn, or in the pool; they want to run. Staying to eat seems like a waste of time. Proposing a menu made from first, second and side dish is a real challenge. This is why it pays off bet on just one plate: a first, tantalizing and rich, if accompanied by a fruit or an ice cream, can become a real meal. If they are used then fresh seasonal vegetables, extra virgin olive oil, a touch of cheese or ham … that's it. Very well also the classics, maybe revisited in a "junior" key.
Gnocchetti with fresh tomato
The recipe for gnocchi is the classic one: better to prepare them without adding eggs to avoid weighing them down. Usually we calculate 1 kg of potatoes and 200 g of flour for 6 people, then 500 g of potatoes plus 100 g of flour will be suitable for 2 large and 2 children. Boil the potatoes in their skins, drain them, peel them while still hot and mash them with the potato masher, dropping the purée on the pastry board, where you have poured the flour. Add a little salt and mix everything together; divide the dough into large pieces that you will roll, one at a time, on the floured pastry board, to form wide ropes like a little finger. Cut the loaves into small pieces: it is always a good idea to propose them to the children pretty small bites. Transfer the gnocchi to a floured tray, then boil them in boiling salted water. Drain them with the slotted spoon as soon as they come to the surface and season them with a sauce prepared by coarsely chopping the ripe tomatoes and letting them season for half an hour in a bowl with a pinch of salt, oil and basil.
Pasta with junior pesto
To make pesto more digestible, it is better to eliminate garlic from the classic recipe; if children are small, it is preferable to use only grana or parmesan, avoiding the pecorino, and add the pine nuts sparingly. Grate the parmesan and blend with the leaves of basil and the pine nuts, add plenty of extra virgin olive oil and continue to blend until you get a cream. Pasta: even in this case the older ones can enjoy the classic trenette. For the little ones better to bet on a mignon format.
Colored rice salad
A few tricks to make this classic healthy and child-friendly. Rice should be seasoned first with all the vegetables from the garden, cooked and raw: no pickles or pickles, but only fresh vegetables. Zucchini, green beans, boiled potatoes; tomatoes, peppers, spring onions, raw basil leaves. All cut to diced minutes, slightly larger than rice grains: in this way even small children will be safe from the risk of a few bites going "sideways". Appropriately chopped, you can also add cooked ham (or to make them happy wurstel), boiled eggs, emmenthal. A round of oil and go. You can even bring it to the beach!
Tomatoes Stuffed With Rice
Beautiful and fragrant, they are made with ripe round tomatoes. To stuff 8 of medium size 200 g of rice are needed. Tomatoes go private of the shell upper and emptied of the pulp, which you will keep in a bowl. Mash it with a fork and add the rice, stirring. Season with chopped onion and basil, a little salt and a drizzle of oil. Stir and leave to rest for about an hour. Lightly salt the inside of the tomatoes, fill them with the rice mixture and close them each with its own cap. Bake in the oven at 200 ° C for about 40 minutes.
Ditalini with courgette, robiola and ham
Ditalini but also butterflies, conchigliette … in short, small formats, because this first is thought for the little ones. It is prepared in an instant. Roughly chop or grate the courgette while the water is boiling, brown it in a little oil. Combine the robiola and complete with the diced ham. Parmesan to taste, a drizzle of raw oil and season the pasta. If the sauce is too thick, it is possible to dilute the robiola with a drop of milk.
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