Vegetarian chef and food writer Natasha Corrett shares three healthy recipes from her new cookbook Family Kitchen…
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LEFTOVER PORRIDGE BARS

Makes 8 Bars

Prep 5 Minutes. Cook 15 Minutes

Ingredients

• 100g dates
• 60ml (¼ cup) warm water
• 150g leftover porridge
• 60g rolled jumbo oats
• 2 tbsp desiccated coconut
• 2 tbsp chia or flax seeds

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.  Line a 20cm loaf tin with baking paper.  Put the dates and warm water into a blender and pulse until they make a coarse purée. Add to the rest of the ingredients and mix together.  Spoon into the lined loaf tin and spread so that it is 1cm thick.  Bake for 15 minutes, then take out and leave to cool.  Cut into squares or bar shapes. The bars can be kept in an airtight Tupperware for three days.

SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI

Serves 2 Children

Prep 10 Minutes. Cook 30 Minutes – 1 hour

Ingredients

• 195g sweet potato
• 35g self-raising flour (gluten-free or wheat), plus extra for dusting
• 1 heaped tsp cornflour
• Olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Bake the potato whole for 50 minutes, then leave to cool. You can then just peel the skin off and chop the potato. Alternatively, steam the sweet potato by heating 5cm of water in a saucepan. Chop the sweet potato, place in a sieve and add to the pan, without touching the water, and place a lid on top. Steam for 20–25 minutes until soft (do not allow the water to boil as the potato will get too wet and the gnocchi won’t work. Mash the cooked sweet potato with the back of a spoon in a bowl. Add the flour and cornflour to the bowl and mix well. Cover a work surface with flour and, with two small teaspoons, shape the mixture into small balls and drop onto the floured surface (you don’t have to be neat). It is a wet mixture, not like a normal gnocchi that you roll, so sprinkle with a little more flour and gently rock backwards and forwards (as if you were rolling) just so the flour sits on the surface of the sweet potato. Press the back of a fork gently onto each one: this will help the tomato sauce to stick to the gnocchi. Boil a very large pan of water, drop each gnocchi into the pan and cook them for 3 minutes. Take out of the water and add into a bowl with some olive oil. Serve with any sauce or pesto.

GREEN PANCAKES

Serves 2 Children

Prep 10 Minutes. Cook 10 Minutes

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ¼ tsp ground cumin
• ¼ courgette, grated
• 2 broccoli florets, finely chopped
• 50g spinach
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 level tbsp self-raising flour (gluten-free or wheat)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp store-bought pesto
• 1 egg

DIRECTIONS

In a frying pan, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, the cumin, courgette and broccoli and cook for 2–3 minutes.

Add the spinach and water and continue to cook until the vegetables are soft. Take off the heat and put into a blender with the flour, baking powder, pesto and egg and blend until smooth.  Using the same frying pan, add the other tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and bring to a medium to high heat.  Spoon heaped tablespoons of the mixture into the hot pan and leave to cook for 1–2 minutes until golden on one side, then flip and cook on the other side. Keep warm while you repeat until all the mixture is finished.

Family Kitchen by Natasha Corrett is published by Mums Know Best and is out on August 13th 2020. RRP £25;

mumsknowbest.com

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