Tim's Miso, Ham & Black Olive Twists

Tim’s Miso, Ham & Black Olive Twists

Tim Anderson

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Serves: 10 big or 20 small twists

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

1 roll (320g) puff pastry

50g red miso

40g black olives, chopped

60g ham or salami

1 egg, beaten

fennel seeds, as needed

🌿 Make it vegan: Use roasted red peppers from a jar (drained and patted dry) instead of the ham, plant milk instead of the beaten egg, and dairy-free pastry and you’re good to go.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200ºC.

Divide the pastry sheet into two equal rectangles. Spread the miso in a thin, even layer across one of the rectangles. Scatter over the chopped olives, then lay the ham or salami on top in a single layer.

Press the other half of the pastry firmly on top of the ham, then cut into 10 big strips. Cut these strips in half if you want smaller twists.

Twist each strip a few times, then lay onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, about an inch apart. Use a pastry brush to coat each twist with beaten egg, then scatter a generous amount of fennel seeds onto each one.

Bake 15 minutes, then turn over and bake for another 10 minutes. These are best enjoyed hot and fresh, but they can also be baked ahead of time and then re-warmed in the oven for a few minutes.

Engaging Kids

Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.

Kids in the kitchen

The eventual aim, if possible, is to get kids in the kitchen. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to mean they are with you from start-to-end creating mess and rising stress levels! It can be as simple as giving them one small job (stirring, measuring, pouring, grating, chopping…) ideally involving veg. They can come in to do their little bit, and have fun with you for a few minutes. Getting them involved, making it playful and praising them plenty for their involvement, perhaps even serving it as dinner they “made”, makes it much more likely they will eat the food offered, not to mention teaching them important life skills. Find ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.

Activities

While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.

Sensory

Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.

Serving

The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.

Tim Anderson

Tim Anderson is a chef, food writer, and broadcaster based in London. Tim’s cooking is primarily informed by his American heritage and his love for regional Japanese food, but it also draws on a personal history of worldwide culinary tourism and a keen interest in food science. A leading voice in the UK on Japanese gastronomy, Tim was the founder of the Japanese soul food restaurant Nanban in Brixton and is the author of five cookbooks on Japanese cuisine.

cheftimanderson.wordpress.com/about/

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