Thomasina Miers
Thomasina won BBC MasterChef in 2005. She is a cook, writer and presenter. She has written and co-edited 7 cookbooks. She is involved with initiatives to improve food in schools.
Thomasina’s Crushed Avocado with Lemon-Tahini Dressing
Thomasina Miers
Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:
In season now
Serves: 2
Prep time: 3 mins
Cook time: 5 mins
Ingredients:
1 medium-sized Hass avocado
20g tahini paste, plus 5g of the tahini oil
30ml lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
a teaspoon each of white and black sesame seeds
a pinch of (Turkish) chilli flakes
2 pieces of (sourdough) bread
a small clove of garlic, optional
To serve:
a large handful of rocket
a radish, finely sliced
2 teaspoons toasted buckwheat, optional
1 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, optional
Veg Portions / Serving: 1
Reciped donated by Thomasina Miers for Veg Power. Portrait photography by Tara Fisher | tarafisher.co.uk. Recipe from Home Cook by Thomasina Miers.
The combination of sesame in different forms – oil, tahini, black and white seeds – with citrus and the green avocado is a fresh, nutty and zesty way to set you up for the day and it looks gloriously pretty.
Method:
Whisk the tahini with the lemon juice until thoroughly combined, with no lumps left. Season well with salt and pepper and stir in the olive oil. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan for a few minutes until the white sesame seeds turn a pale caramel. Repeat with the buckwheat, if using.
Toast the bread and, if you like, rub gently with a clove of garlic. Mash up the avocado roughly on the two pieces of toast, season with a pinch of salt and drizzle with half the dressing. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and chilli flakes. Serve with the rocket topped with the radish, the rest of the lemon-tahini dressing and buckwheat, if using, or more toasted sesame seeds.
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
There are so many jobs suitable for small hands in these avocado recipes from Thomasina, including making the dressing, mixing the tahini with lemon juice and oil, rubbing the toasted bread with garlic and salt and mashing the avocado.
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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Effort:
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Complexity:
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Cost:
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Thomasina Miers
