Aaron Craze
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Ingredients:
500g swede, coarsely grated
500g potato, coarsely grated
1 onion, coarsely grated
2 tbsp thyme leaves
50g butter, melted plus extra for frying
Oil or butter for cooking
4 eggs
8 slices streaky bacon
Hollandaise sauce (optional)
Veg Portions / Serving: 2
Recipe donated by Aaron Craze from loveyourgreens.co.uk
Method:
1. Heat the oven to 180C. In a bowl combine the swede, potato and onion and squeeze out the excess liquid. Add the thyme and butter, stir well then firmly shape into 8 cakes.
2. In a frying pan heat some butter or oil and fry the rostis, two or three at a time for 3-4 minutes on each side until brown and crisp.
3. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake in the oven for a further 15 mins. Once cooked blot with some kitchen roll and if necessary, keep warm under some foil.
4. While the rosti are in the oven, fry or grill the bacon till crisp and keep warm, then bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and add a splash of vinegar.
5. With a spoon, swirl the water to create a small whirlpool then crack one of the eggs into the centre. This will bring the egg into a neat shape as it cooks, reduce the heat so the water is no longer bubbling and cook for 2 minutes.
6. Serve 2 rosti topped with an egg and a drizzle of hollandaise.
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
Help the kids to grate the veg and let them squeeze out the excess water and shape the rostis. Show them how to crack the eggs one at a time, using the leftover eggshell to ease out any bits of shell that end up in the egg!
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.
Aaron Craze
Aaron Craze was one of the second group of trainees from Channel 4's Jamie's Kitchen programme. Aaron left school with no formal qualifications and worked in several jobs before applying to become a trainee in Jamie Oliver's London restaurant, Fifteen, graduating from its Chef Training Programme with merit. Since then Aaron has worked at restaurants including London's The Ivy and has appeared in television programmes including Junior Bake-Off.
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