This is a new family friendly recipe to add to your culinary repertoire.
When I think about family friendly recipes they obviously need to be appealing to the kids. Kids are impressionable and eat with their senses - meaning, make healthy food appealing to their senses and they will consider loving it for life (well...consider). In order to appeal to their senses meals need to:
- look good - be colourful and have different shapes and textures,
- taste good - add simple dressings and herbs and cook with healthy fats to make vegetables taste good,
- smell good - no one likes the smell of boiling vegetables, and
- feel good in their mouth - incorporating different textures and adding a crunch can help with this versus serving soggy vegetables.
Kids also like to touch their food and eat with their hands - think how much they love a Mexican feast!
Getting them involved in the cooking process will also teach them more about food and nutrition and encourage them to try new foods – this recipe is great for that. Kids are often proud of the meals that they prepare and excited to eat it...Hallelujah they just tried 2 new vegetables and ate dinner with the family without a fuss!
I feel like this recipe ticks all of these boxes and more:
- It contains lots of different vitamins, minerals, fibres and antioxidants through the vegetables.
- The simple homemade dressing makes the vegetables taste good and encourages everyone to eat them (without an abundant of additives and preservatives).
- The salad is crunchy and colourful (and may introduce the kids to some new vegetables).
- The sweet potato ‘chips’ provide a healthier alternative to chips and the kids can pick them up and eat them with their hands.
- The fish adds important healthy fats and protein to the whole diet. It can be flaked and served with the salad and a spread of avocado in a soft taco shell as an alternative.
- This is a balanced meal – some protein, healthy fats, a small serve of quality carbs and lots of veg.
- This is a gluten free meal for those requiring a gluten free diet.
Ingredients (serves 4)
4 Pieces of snapper with the skin on (you could also use salmon or any fish you like and are comfortable cooking with)
2 Medium-large sweet potatoes cut into ‘chips’ (leave skin on)
1 Tablespoon of olive oil for the fish + some extra for drizzling on ‘chips’
1 Large carrot, grated
½ Fennel bulb, thinly sliced
¼ Red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 Large kale leaf, thinly sliced
Lemon wedges to serve
Dressing ingredients
¼ Cup of olive oil
½ Teaspoon of dried oregano
1/8 Cup of apple cidar vinegar
1 Tablespoon of honey
½ Tablespoon of Dijon mustard
Methods
Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Place sweet potato ‘chips’ on a tray lined with baking paper and drizzle with olive oil, lightly season with salt and place in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until golden.
Meanwhile, mix dressing ingredients together in a small bowl (one of the kids could do this) and combine the carrot, fennel, cabbage and kale in a larger bowl (one of the kids could do the grating and mixing). Toss the dressing through the salad mix
Season the fish skin with pepper and a little bit of salt – this helps to get it crispy.
Heat the olive oil in a pan over a high heat (this heat is fine for olive oil but you could use rice bran oil as an alternative). Place the fish skin side down and gently press on the fish while it starts to cook with the back of a spatula so it starts to cook evening on the bottom. Cook for approximately 5 minutes then turn the fish, turn the heat down to a medium heat and cook for a further 3-4 minutes or until the fish has cooked through. This will really depend on the size of the fish.
Serve the fish with lemon wedges, sweet potato chips and Italian slaw and enjoy as a family sitting at the table.
Notes
You may need to increase or decrease ingredients depending on the size of your family and their appetites!
Taste the dressing and adjust ingredients to taste
ENJOY!