Jennifer John
Jennifer John, a trained home economist and a member of the Guild of Food Writers has been working with the Discover Great Veg campaign for many years, including, developing recipes.
Jennifer’s Braised Sausages in Leek Gravy
Jennifer John
Featuring:
Leeks
Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:
In season now
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
(454g pack) 8 pork sausages
500g leeks, sliced
25g plain flour
450ml beef stock
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
steamed kale and mashed potatoes to serve, optional
Veg Portions / Serving: 1
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the sausages for 5 minutes to brown, transfer to an ovenproof casserole dish.
- Add the leeks to the pan and fry for 2 minutes, stir in the flour and cook for 30 seconds before gradually blending in the stock, Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Bring to the boil, stirring and pour over the sausages.
- Cover and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through.
- Serve with steamed kale and mashed potato.
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
Teach the kids about safety around the hob and oven and show them how to very carefully help you add ingredients to the pan and/or stir them safely. If serving with kale and mashed potatoes, have them wash and tear the kale leaves from the stalks and mash the cooked potatoes.
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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