Lilly Higgins is THE perfect person to join us for Food Month on Weekend Breakfast.
The Cork chef has THREE little people 10 and under and shares her wisdom with what has worked for them.
Lilly shares her top tips on making food fun and fussy eaters from getting more veg in their diet (her suggestion is absolute genius!) to recipe suggestions that are SUREFIRE DINNER WINNERS!!
Here is the full recipe for the Deep Dish Veg Pizza Lilly mentions:
Roast Vegetable Deep Dish Pizza
This is one of those pizzas where shop bought pizza dough is better than homemade. Roast the veg the day before while you’re cooking something else and then just assemble this the day you need it. Practical, delicious and everyone loves it.
Serves 6
Ingredients:
½ butternut squash or 1 sweet potato, cubed
2 red onions, cut into quarters with base intact
1 roll ready made pizza dough
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp sugar
Salt & black pepper
A handful of baby spinach leaves
1 tsp oregano or basil
100g cheddar grated
1 ball mozzarella, torn
Olive oil
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 200C. Place the vegetables on a tray and drizzle with a little olive oil.
Roast till just tender and begin to caramelize at the edges. Set aside & increase oven temp to 220C.
Saute the onion in a pan with a little olive oil. Once soft add the garlic and stir for a minute before adding the chopped tomato and sugar. Simmer for five minutes then season with salt and pepper. Add the herbs and blitz using a stick blender or nutribullet till smooth. Set aside.
Brush a 12’ springform tin with olive oil. Unroll the pizza and gently lay it into the dish, pressing it up against the sides as you do. Scatter the base of the dough with grated cheese, top with a little tomato sauce, the roasted veg and spinach and then more sauce. FInish with a layer of cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese bubbling on top.
Leave to sit for a minute before unclipping the sides and serving. I like to cut this pie with a metal dough scraper but a pizza wheel or knife will do too.
Tex Mex Tuna Melt
For my family this is a real store cupboard, Friday night dinner. Easy to make and the kids can help to assemble it. I add jalapenos and lime juice to my own and leave theirs plain. Although they are going through a Sriracha sauce on everything phase! Everything is smothered in cheese so it’s hard to pick out the vegetables in this. They usually just eat it all and love it.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
6 large potatoes, scrubbed and cut into wedges
2 tbsp tomato relish or chutney
2 tbsp mayonnaise
¼ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp sweet smoked paprika
4 tbsp roughly chopped coriander
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 stick celery, finely diced
2 x 120g tins tuna, drained
120g grated cheddar cheese
8 cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)
1 tbsp jalapenos, diced
1 lime, cut into wedges
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 220C. Dry the potato wedges with a tea towel and place them on a tray. Drizzle with oil and roast for 20-25 mins till golden.
Mix the mayonnaise, relish, cumin, paprika, celery, 2 tbsp coriander and half of the red onion together in a bowl. Fold the tuna flakes through. Once the potato wedges are cooked pile the tuna mix into the centre covering most of the wedges. Top with grated cheese and cherry tomatoes then return to the oven for ten minutes. Once the cheese is melted and the tuna is hot top with the reserved red onion and diced jalapenos. Scatter with the remaining coriander and serve with wedges of lime.
Chicken Katsu Curry
My kids adore this katsu curry, a sweet tangy curry sauce that’s addictive with the crispy fried chicken. Sweet thanks to apple and carrot, tangy thanks to ginger and garlic. A really handy sauce to have in the fridge, perfect for a curry in a hurry. Just add leftover roast chicken, beef or tofu.
Ingredients:
Serves 4-6
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 onion, finely diced
3 chicken breasts, butterflied open and flattened
1 thumb-sized piece ginger, finely chopped
1 yellow or red pepper, chopped
1 eating apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp curry powder
300ml stock or water
1 x 160ml tin coconut milk
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
2 eggs, whisked with 2 tbsp water
200g plain flour
250g panko breadcrumbs
150ml vegetable oil or sunflower oil for frying
To serve: Plain boiled rice
Instructions:
Melt the coconut oil in a medium-sized heavy based pan. Add the onion, garlic and ginger. Sauté till the onion is soft. Add the pepper, carrot and apple. Place the lid on and leave to cook for a few minutes before adding the curry powder. Stir to coat everything well and toast the spices a little. Add the stock and coconut milk, simmer for 10 minutes till the carrot is cooked. Add the soy sauce, tomato puree and coriander. Remove the curry from the heat and allow to cool a little. Blitz the curry till smooth using a handheld blender or use a food processor.
Pour the smooth curry sauce back into the pan, keep warm and set aside.
Get three shallow bowls and place the flour in one, beaten egg in the other and breadcrumbs in the last. Heat the oil in a wide frying pan. Dip the chicken into the flour, egg, breadcrumbs and then cook in the oil for about 3-4 minutes on each side till cooked through. Keep warm in the oven while you cook the rest. Serve whilst still piping hot with the rice and curry sauce.
You can follow Lilly's Instagram here
Check out this fantastic Halloween themed food fun... Lilly Potter!
View this post on Instagram
