Ruth Rogers
Ruth co-created Michelin-starred River Cafe with Rose Gray. They published The River Cafe Cookbook in 1995 followed by ten more cookbooks, all bestsellers. The authors also hosted The Italian Kitchen.
Ruthie’s Roasted Pumpkin
Ruth Rogers
Featuring:
Pumpkin
Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:
Serves: 6
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Ingredients:
1 small pumpkin, about 1 kg, peeled, cut into wedges 2cm thick
150ml olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 small dried red chilli, crumbled
1 bunch fresh thyme, leaves picked from the stalks
(Maldon) salt and freshly ground black pepper
Veg Portions / Serving: 1
Recipe donated by Ruth Rogers (River Cafe) for Veg Power. Recipe adapted from River Cafe Book Two by Ruth Rogers.
This is one of our favourite ways to cook pumpkin in the Autumn. It’s just as delicious roasted in a wood-burning oven as it is a conventional one!
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C/180 C fan/gas 6. Put the pumpkin pieces in a bowl with the other ingredients. Mix thoroughly to coat. Put in an oiled baking dish and roast for about an hour.
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 the kids to mix the pumpkin pieces in with the other ingredients and spread out on the baking dish. Let them set the oven and timer.
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.
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