Bitter greens
I never used to like eating bitter greens. So no fennel, witlof (endives), chicory, kale, radicchio, frisée, and their friends for me. Until I got pregnant. A growing baby in utero starts to develop taste buds and tastes what the mother eats. That explains why most children like the foods their mothers eat (It explains why I like bananas and potatoes so much). The foods we eat during pregnancy may influence the foods that our baby will like for years to come. We wanted M to be familiar with a multitude of different flavours and foods. So guess what? When M was still in my tummy, Lachlan started cooking me foods with all the bitter green varieties. And then what happened? I started liking all these new flavours and now all these bitter green feature regularly in our weekly meal plans.
Broccoli is the poster child for hated foods. Some people are more sensitive to the taste of cruciferous vegetables (such as cauliflower, bok choy, and Brussel sprouts). The bitter stuff in broccoli are compounds that some plants produce to deter garden pests. It is usually a warning sign for poisonous plants. However, what contribute to their bitterness and sourness is what contributes to their healthy characteristics, the inhibition of carcinogenesis. We love broccoli and cauliflower in this house (still working with M on Brussel sprouts). When I want to add veggies to a meal, I usually fall back to steaming broccoli florets with a little bit of water and salted butter. And voilà, added greens in three minutes flat and zero effort.
One way to help widening our palate is repetition. Have the same foods on the meal plan again and again, but cooked differently each time. So sometimes we have spinach soup, sometimes it is salad with spinach leaves, or spinach pesto or spinach in a smoothie, and last night it was an avocado and spinach sauce for tacos 🌮.
Here are this week’s recipe suggestions for you to try:
Roasted pear, Stilton and arugula salad - our version on top did not include the pomegranate.
Spicy carrot and ginger soup with harissa - feel free to tone down the spiciness to your taste.
Roasted cherry tomatoes and miso pasta - this is based on https://niksharma.bulletin.com/356388676041988 and it was so good, we did not make enough.
Smoothie with spinach, frozen banana, avo, pineapple, apple and hemp seeds - which we are having for breakfast today. Source: Kate Ray is pregnant, works long hours in the kitchen, and needs nourishment.
Green curry broccoli soup
Oil
1 tbsp green curry paste (or any other curry paste you have)
1 cups of water
1 cup coconut milk
1 head of broccoli, chopped into florets
2–3 tbsp peanut butter
How to?
Heat a large saucepan on a high heat and heat up the oil. Reduce to low heat and stir fry the curry paste for 15-30 seconds or until you notice the aroma. Be careful not to burn it.
Add the water and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer.
Add broccoli and continue to simmer uncovered for 8-9 minutes or until the broccoli is tender. Adjust with a bit more water if needed.
Remove from the heat. Stir in the peanut butter and blitz until smooth.
Adjust flavour with a bit of salt or more peanut butter.
Side note: You can replace the peanut butter with a little sugar and some fish sauce to season.
Our meal plan from last week can be found at: https://foodfamily.app/public/meal_plans/7a999268-ede9-45a6-989e-9a6a89a8bc48
Once again, please let us know if you make any of these recipes, how you found them, what you changed, or just drop us an email to say hi.
Thanks and see you next week,
Elle, Lachlan, M, Ginger, and Edward