Regular readers of TLT already know about my one child who has been a steadfast veggie-phobe since toddlerhood, continually amazing me with his resolve to avoid all things green (and yellow and orange), regardless of how enticingly prepared or how many other people at the table are visibly enjoying them. It’s true that a while back I’d described a big breakthrough (“A Miracle Takes Place in Houston“) but since then, things haven’t changed much on the veggie front and I was starting to feel that we were back where we started.
Well, last night I decided to take Amanda Hesser’s new The Essential New York Times Cookbook out for a spin. (Side note to foodies out there: run, don’t walk, to get your hands on this book. You will love it.). I decided to make an Italian dish called malfatti, which are like gnocchi but using bread instead of potatoes as the base. This particular recipe called for almost a pound and a half of spinach, and the resulting dumplings were a dark, dark green. (By the way, “malfatti” means “badly made,” and mine certainly fit that description: the dough wouldn’t firm up properly so I had to add a ton of uncalled-for flour, and even then it was so sticky that it was impossible to form anything but irregular, ugly lumps out of it. Nonetheless, delicious!)
As I’ve advocated here in the past (“Short Order Cookery – Just Say No“), I normally try have a few things on the table for dinner so that everyone can find a safe “out” if they’re not into the main dish. But last night I was pressed for time and it was either my dark green, rather scary-looking malfatti and salad — or going hungry.
Well, lo and behold, my little veggie-hater dove right in to the dish and immediately stated, “This is going to become one of those foods I ask for when it’s my turn to say what we have for dinner.” I nearly fell out of my chair. All was going swimmingly until my husband rather unhelpfully asked, “Is there spinach in here? I taste spinach.” While I hadn’t exactly lied about the spinach, I had been guilty of, shall we say, a useful omission. While trying awkwardly to kick my husband under the table, I watched my son anxiously, expecting him to drop his fork in disgust. He did pause for second, looking a little troubled, but then shrugged and said, nonchalantly, “I don’t care if it’s spinach” and kept right on eating.
Cue up the angelic choir.
My point in sharing this story? For all you parents of the picky, who believe that no child could possibly be as recalcitrant about certain foods as yours, don’t despair.
Miracles do happen, and apparently sometimes they come in the unlikely form of ugly, green dumplings.
Joanne Roach says
Halleluia!
anthony says
1) alas, heterosexual men are morons.
and B) (do you like my postcards from the edge reference?) the wetness issue is a big factor in making spinach pasta too–spinach is really really wet. i haven’t seen the recipe, but i’m guessing it calls for frozen spinach (although what i’m about to say applies even if you cook it yourself). once it’s thawed (or cooled, if you just cooked it), grab a fistful of it and squeeze (you’ll need to keep your fingers tight to each other so the spinach doesn’t ooze through). and then squeeze some more. squeeze as much moisture out of it as you can. then put the spinach (again in fist-sized clumps) on a clean dish towel, wrap the towel around the spinach clump, and squeeze again. seriously you can’t do this enough. once you’ve gotten all the water you can out of it, you’re good to go.
the alternative to this is to cook the spinach, and then dry it out in a 200 degree oven or a fruit/veg dehydrator. but this is a long lead-time technique and, since what you’ll be left with is essentially spinach flakes, it also will require an increase in the amount of wet ingredients in a recipe.
bettina elias siegel says
Anthony: I knew that was my problem. When I make spanikopita, I’m maniacal about getting the water out of the spinach, but last night I started this recipe at 6pm to be on the table by 6:45! Crazy, of course. So I smushed my defrosted spinach against the sides of fine mesh sieve as hard as I could and hoped for the best, but of course it wasn’t enough. Next time I’ll do it right, but amazingly, it held together well once boiled (then run under the boiler with sauce and parmesan) and still tasted delish.
anthony says
it did make me hungry thinking about it. immahaftatryit.
bettina elias siegel says
If you do, I should note there are two malfatti recipes in the book. This one is the one from “Mrs. Sabastiani” – the other looked absurdly complicated, at least for a rushed weeknight.
Bri says
See? See??????? I knew it! I knew my children couldn’t be the only ones capable of producing one of these miraculous moments! (And as a side note — we had one last night, too — P., at 20 months old, has become a spaghetti holdout; but he got hungry enough that eventually, he sat down and ate a bowl of the sauce, sans noodles, with a spoon.) Congratulations!!!
bettina elias siegel says
Bri – you seem to have these breakthroughs far more often in your house, though! – Bettina
Bri says
Luck. All luck! 🙂
Maggie says
No picky children to feed at my house, but wanted to say thank you to Anthony for the spinach drying hint. I’ll be planning ahead breaking out the dehydrator. I’m already thinking of a couple recipes that have given me issues when using frozen spinach.
bettina elias siegel says
OK, who ARE you people who all have a home dehydrator, ready to whip out at a moment’s notice? Is this something I need to own? Discuss.
Grace @eatdinner says
Good for you! (And your daughter!) I am a firm believer that if you just keep trying and offering food without much fuss, even the pickiest of kids will eventually turn around. (My youngest is challenging that assumption a bit, but she too is much, much better and actually likes broccoli and will eat spinach in tiny amounts.)
For drying veggies, which is important for stir-fry too, we use a salad spinner. Quick and easy!