Italian food for kids: the 3 P's

Not everyone likes to cook. You come from work, the children are hanging from your leg and in the meantime you have to stand behind the stove and think: what on earth are we eating today? And then that eternal nagging! 'Bèh, that's really SUPER dirty mama!', if you've done your best again.

Real Italian food often comes with ingredients that children don't like. And time and love, but that is not appreciated. Instead, the amount and type of vegetables are mercilessly judged. Eggplant, green asparagus, pumpkin: I like them, but my kids don't.

I'm going to tell you a secret. I change my Italian dishes in such a way that my children go along with it. Because sometimes I just don't want to whine at the table. Or have something ready very quickly.

That is why I am now giving you 3 dishes with vegetables that children like, which you can prepare in less than 10 minutes and which you can - with a little good will - trace back to Italian cuisine. I follow the rule of the three P's. Because the children in Italy just love pasta, pancakes and pizza.

1. Pasta all'amatriciana

A classic of Italian cuisine and my kids love it. Actually, this should be done with pork cheek, but just look at getting that in Schoonhoven. So just smoked pork belly. From a package from the supermarket.

Ingredients

• a bag of smoked bacon
• one bottle of organic tomato sauce (best price/quality), without added flavour
• a glass of red wine (the alcohol evaporates from the sauce, but the wine adds flavor to the dish)
• pecorino cheese

Preparation method

Fry the bacon briefly, add the wine and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Then add the tomato sauce and let it simmer for another 15 minutes. The wine needs a total of 20 minutes of cooking time to evaporate the alcohol. When the sauce is ready, add a handful of finely grated pecorino and eco pronto!

The golden rule applies to pasta, of course: buy good pasta (De Cecco), cook in a large pan with plenty of water with a tablespoon of salt and stick to the al dente cooking time.

Last but not least: have yourself a glass of wine. Good for blood circulation.

2. Pizza 

Many children like pizza. But how do you get new flavors through those childish straws? Unnoticed! Give them something they know and change it a little bit.

Ingredients

• ready-made pizza base
• small pack of fresh endive
• salted capers
• black olives
• mozzarella cheese

Here's the trick: buy good ingredients: salted capers sometimes have them at the market or at a good store with Italian delicacies. I buy my black olives at the Moroccan souk.

At de Appie they have ready-made pizza bases with the tomato sauce already on it. If you fry the endive briefly in some oil, you can put it on the pizza with the black olives. You have to rinse those salted capers well under water. You also put that on the pizza, with the mozzarella and then you bake it in 15 or 20 minutes.

In the original recipe of the Neapolitan Pizza Association, this pizza has to be with provolone cheese. But money there too: not to be missed, and children prefer the greasy unpronounced mozzarella. 

If you want to play it safe, put the capers on the pizza half in front of the Big People. Because the chance that your children will get rid of those salted capers is quite small. We are already happy with the endive. A small step for (man) child, a big step for a family.

3. Pancakes

You make pancakes. You will fill this with an Italian mixture of spinach, ricotta and parmesan cheese. You fold them in half. You name the pancakes crespelle alla fiorentina, and hoppakee: you have an Italian dish on the table.

For that mixture, take a glass jar of spinach (without cream, not from the freezer), a cup of ricotta and a handful of finely grated parmesan cheese. The spinach, you have to squeeze out the water or put it in a colander for a while. You heat the ingredients together in the microwave. Add some salt and pepper here. Have a taste.

In the original version, you still put béchamel sauce over it and it goes in the oven. Only do that once if you really have time. Sunday or something. Or when the kids are out of the house.

If it still doesn't work, you can also just bake cookies with them. Cantuccini, for example.