Mothership Meals and Satellite Saucers: Vegetarian Pasta ...with Meatballs

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Vegetarian Pasta ...with Meatballs

It's 6 pm, on a freezing cold winter night. Even though I just shopped the other day, somehow there's nothing to make for dinner. Well, there's a chicken, but I don't feel like roasting a chicken. There's ground turkey, but my friend who made this amazing turkey meatball-pasta dish for us last week is out of town and can't give me the recipe. As far as meat goes, that's all there is.

We are meaty people -- but I am trying to break us of our flesh dependence. This adds indecision and anxiety to my meal-planning, and leads to flailing about at 6 pm in search of dinner ideas.

So I flip through Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes and come up with Pasta with Anchovies and Arugula. Perfect -- I can use up the wilted arugula in the fridge, and we have garlic, olive oil and Parmesan cheese. Plus, I love 'cupboard cooking' -- making dinner from staples in the cupboard.

I thinly-slice four cloves of garlic and let them slowly cook, alongside 8 anchovies, in about 1/4 cup of olive oil. I wash and chop the arugula and put on a pot of water. My kids hate pasta so I make a bunch of turkey meatballs. (salt and pepper the meat, make the balls, fry them in, um.... bacon fat.)

I drain the pasta, and forget to save the cup of pasta water that Mark Bittman calls for. So I just toss the olive oil mixture with the arugula -- which immediately wilts perfectly -- and grate a blizzard of Parmesan cheese on top. Unbelievably, we don't have red pepper flakes, so we do without. I wish I had some pine nuts to toss in.

It comes out very good -- simple, but satisfying. My daughter won't even try it. This is where the anxiety comes in: I don't push, because I don't think white flour pasta, even with the famous hard durum wheat, is all that good for you.

(Yes, I am completely conflicted about the carnivorous thing -- don't want her to eat so much meat, but also don't want her eating lots of white flour. And am not a big fan of whole wheat pasta because, unless it's with a really rugged meat sauce, well: yuck. Argh.)

But if there were pasta-eating kids at the table, who were non-arugula-eaters, it would be easy enough to push the loathsome green bits aside and eat "plain" pasta (deliciously, luxuriously flavored with dissolved anchovy bits).

My daughter eats the turkey meatballs. At least it's a little lower on the food chain than beef or pork meatballs, right?

My son is away for the weekend, which is maybe why I risked pasta at all. It wasn't too long ago that serving him pasta for dinner made him cry.

Anyway, how can get I upset with my daughter about being even more of a ravenous meat-eater than her parents, when her food instincts consider what came next a perfect dessert? She would probably choose this over anything else in the world: Raspberry Cassis Sorbet (from Blue Moon Sorbet. Ingredients: Raspberry Puree, Water, Cane Sugar, Cassis) and frozen blueberries. Something good's happening there.

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The Mothership Method

(Or, how to sit down for dinner with your family without completely losing your mind)

It would be great if kids AND parents wanted boiled chicken and baby carrots every night for dinner. But, too bad, we picky parents want spicy, exotic, fun foods, and our kids want, well, sorta lame foods.
Here's the solution: break it down. Serve the dish deconstructed, and let everyone put their own dish together at the table. Sort of like tapas, or smorgasbord, or tacos. Or how in some parts of China you get a bowl of rice, and everything else is in the middle of the table and you take what you want for your own little bowl of rice. That way everyone gets to eat what they want, parents don't have to nag their kids, and kids get to feels some ownership over their meals. Plus, kids get exposed to the look and taste of the foods you hope they will one day love. But it's not just tacos. You'll be amazed at what can be served with the Mothership Method.

Ten Tips to Get Through Dinner Without Having A Nervous Breakdown

1. Accept That Kids Are Picky. No need to freak out on your cooking ability, or look at your kids like there is something wrong with them. It's called "neo-phobia", and it's just how they are, especially from ages 3-6.

2. Serve Meals Broken Down. Even grown-up meals like coconut curry or linguine with clams can be served in their elements, making them more appealing to kids. Grown ups can assemble their own jumble of deliciousness at their own plate while kids take on the pared-down elements.

3. Push if it Works, But Don't Nag If It Doesn't. Some kids are okay with being expected to taste everything on their plate. Others aren't. I think it's okay to push kids -- but not if you're turning dinner into a battlefield.

4. Suggest a Smell. Smelling a new food is easier than tasting it, and can sometimes provide a kid with the information needed to take that scary first bite. But don't confine smelling to new foods. Smell favorites, too, and help them develop their sense of smell by making a game out of it.

5. Don't Ask "Do You Like It?" Instead, try, "What does this remind you of?" or, "Would your cousins like this?" or, "Does this taste salty or sweet?". Asking if they like it or not gives kids too much power and ends the conversation. Besides, we don't care if they like it! We just want them to keep tasting it until it is familiar.

6. Don't Get Frustrated. Imagine being in Taiwan, or Nairobi, or Rome for the first time. Would you eat everything on the local menu? New foods are scary and gross. Our kids need time to learn about the foods that we eat.

7. No SubstitutionsThis is family dinner, not a diner. You, in all your wisdom, have provided foods that are healthy and delicious and appropriate for your children. There is something on the table for them to eat. Period.

8. No Snacks Before Dinner. This can be the hardest with our hectic schedules and hungry kids. But children who come to the table hungry are more likely to eat than cause trouble.

9. Put Peer Pressure To Your Advantage. School children are more likely to accept new foods if the alpha girls in their group accept them. Swap healthy food ideas on playdates.

10. Involve Your Kids In Cooking, Shopping, and Gardening. The more experience kids have handling and preparing a variety of foods, the more likely they are to eventually accept the foods. (But don't get upset if they help you make a complicated wonderful meal, and then refuse to eat it.)