The breadcrumbs are a twist on the classic way that involtini are cooked. The lovely Italian lady who taught me this recipe in the kitchen of the very same and thankfully absent mafia boss, explained that the crunchy breadcrumb outer layer helps keep the meat soft inside. Another top tip is that if you’re making this for toddlers, the meat can be made even more tender by soaking the chicken breasts in milk for an hour or two before using. I’ve further adapted the tomato sauce so it is cooked and served separately. I know from bitter experience that small people can sometimes be a little particular / wildly irrational about whether sauces are “on” or “next to”.

Ingredients (serves 2 adults or 1 adult and 2 children)

2 chicken breasts
4 thin slices cooked ham
50g of grated cheese (e.g emmental, gruyere or cheddar)
breadcrumbs
1egg, beaten
breadcrumbs
basil
200g tinned tomatoes / passata
1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
plain flour
wooden toothpicks

Method:

1. Using a small saucepan, gently heat garlic in a glug of olive oil. Add the tinned tomato or passata, a splosh of water and handful of basil, then simmer gently.
2. Next slice each chicken breast once horizontally. You will now have 4 thinner pieces. In turn place a piece of cling film or baking parchment over each and hit with rolling pin until about 1/2 cm thick.
3.On each chicken piece, lay a piece of cooked ham followed by grated cheese. Then roll up each one and secure with a couple of toothpicks.
4. Dunk each chicken parcel first in seasoned flour, then beaten egg, before rolling in breadcrumbs.
Heat olive oil in frying pan over medium/high, before adding the chicken to cook for about 10 minutes or so. Turn parcels every few minutes until breadcrumbs turn golden brown on the outside and the middle is cooked through.
5. Serve chicken rolls either smothered in the tomato sauce or a safe distance from it, depending on preference. Goes well with little roast potatoes and green beans.

I crouch down  and hold the offending tomato up at eye level between us. “Look..” I say, in my best persuasive voice. “I know you don’t eat a tomato like THIS. But you really like tomato sauce don’t you?” She nods. “And you like tomato puree because you suck it out of the tube don’t you?” Nods again. “Good. All I am going to do is take a tiny bit of juice out of this tomato, and spread it on your bread with some olive oil because I thought you might like to try the snack that some very grown up big girl Italian children eat. Will you try it please?” She eyes the tomato and transfers the same distrustful gaze to me. “OK then, I’ll try.” she says. Victory.  ”But NO pippy seed things, they’re yukky”.

So I carefully cut the tomato and scoop out the seeds before rubbing the flesh onto a piece of bread. A drizzle of olive oil, and it’s ready. The traditional after school snack that generations of Italians were brought up on, until supermarkets started filling aisle upon aisle with cakey things in shiny wrappers, and giant jars of Nutella.

One group of young Italians in Puglia was so utterly affronted by this, they set up a “festival of granny sandwiches”. The aim was to reeducate people about the old fashioned simple recipes. Since the economic crisis they’ve had unprecedented levels of interest from families looking to the traditional more economic way of feeding children. I was lucky enough to be able to go to the festival and write a piece for BBC News Magazine.CLICK HERE TO READ BBC NEWS ARTICLE

However it was one particular interview with a paediatric nutrionist at the festival which sent me on my own personal guilt trip. As we chatted in the balmy evening surrounded by thousands of families, he explained that many busy Italian mums have now got used to feeding kids prepacked cakes and biscuits, or big dollops of chocolate spread on bread. The result he said was that children have lost the taste for savoury stop gaps between meals.  When I laughingly admitted that my daughter was rather partial to the chocolate hazelnut stuff on bread, he shook his head reproachfully and went on to tell me how unhealthy it is, giving an elaborate description of the evil fats and sugars. Aghhh! It’s one thing to make a mum feel guilty, and another to make her feel guilty when she’s several hundred miles from home. So I returned to the UK with a steely resolve to make biscuits and chocolates less frequent treats and to introduce some savoury snacks (although I can’t quite give up chocolate buttons for blackmail purposes). 

So I guess you might be wondering how the oily tomato bread went down with my little tomato hater? After she used a toy magnifying glass to inspect for stray tomato seeds, she did eat some and went so far as to say it was nice. But that might have been down to the glass of chocolate milk alongside. Small steps and all that!

Ingredients – I don’t need to do I?

Method – If you’re dealing with a tomato-phobe, remove all pips!

And of course I’d love to know your thoughts… x 

Ingredients (serves 2)

1 egg

1/4 cup of milk

4 slices of bread

125g mozzarella (not buffalo) cut into small pieces

50g ham, cooked or parma ham

butter

breadcrumbs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C.  Grease a small ceramic baking dish (big enough to lay out 2 slices of bread)  and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Flour will do if you don’t have any to hand.

2. In a bowl whisk together the egg and milk. Dip in the slices of bread one at a time, but don’t soak them. Place 2 slices on the base of the dish. Then add a layer of mozzarella and a layer of ham followed by the remaining egg dipped bread. Dot the top with butter, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, add a bit of grated cheese too if you like and pop in the oven for 18-20 minutes, until golden on top. Cut into squares and serve.

Ingredients

Optional fairy helper to squeeze oranges and create sticky mess.

2 eggs (separate yolks and white)

80g butter

100g caster sugar

2 oranges (zest from 1 orange, juice from both)

200g sifted flour

1and 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C and line a smallish cake tin. Next melt the butter in a pan. Let it cool a little before tipping into a mixing bowl with the sugar and 2 egg yolks (keep egg whites for later). Mix well then stir in the orange zest and orange juice.

2. Fold in sifted flour and baking powder. Then whisk egg whites to form peaks and fold even more gently into mixture.

3. Tip cake mix into lined tin and pop in oven for 25-30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Dust with icing sugar.

Makes 4-6 children’s portions

Freezes well. 

Ingredients

125 ml of good chicken or vegetable stock

400 g of chicken, turkey

1 grated carrot

1/2 stick of celery finely chopped 

1/2 onion finely chopped

1.5 dessert spoons of flour

2 tbsp olive oil

250g frozen peas

1 generous dessert spoon of finely chopped fresh herbs. Dried herbs fine too

1/4 glass  of white wine (optional, replace with equivalent stock if you prefer) 

salt and pepper to taste

Method

1.Place chicken or turkey breasts between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper. Whack with rolling pin to tenderise, then cut into cubes and roll in flour. 

2. Over a medium to high heat, cook carrot, celery and onion in olive oil.  Then add meat to pan to brown. 

3. Next add white wine. Let it evaporate for a few minutes before adding stock herbs and seasoning. Turn heat down low, Cover pan and cook for 20 minutes or so.  

4. Add peas to pan and cook for another 10-15 minutes. You can add a splash of water if consistency needs loosening. Serve with mash, jacket potato or some rice. Lovely. 

So the recipe I handed over as a Smith family favourite was my mum’s delicious coffee brandy gateau. Of course it included coffee as an ingredient. But not coffee as the Italians would know it. In fact it’s safe to say no Italian worth their cappucino would know what Camp Coffee essence is. In case you’re wondering, Camp is a tar black coffee substitute concocted in the 19th century and made mostly with chicory and a little (very little) coffee essence. It was apparently used at one time to make instant ‘coffee’ for British soldiers (poor things). In the 20th century, most home bakers used it for flavouring cakes and puddings. The problem regarding ‘my’ wonderful family recipe contribution was that it didn’t occur to me to translate this bit of British culinary heritage to …  ‘espresso’. The Italian author, bless her, didn’t want to edit my recipe and lose originality. I still cringe thinking of Italians buying the book, reading my recipe and wondering what on earth Camp essence could be. That is of course, if they got past the description of me as a journalist who “loves to eat but doesn’t cook much”. How things have changed! 

Preparation time  - 5 minutes

Cooking time  - 10 minutes

Makes 4 ramekin dishes

Ingredients 

Fruit chopped into small pieces. e.g 1 mango, 1 pear 

Handful of blueberries, raspberries or strawberries to decorate

2 eggs

2 lemons (juice of both, zest of one, or half if you don’t want it too tangy) 

3  1/2 tbsp caster sugar

40g cornflour

500ml water

 Method

1. Cut the fruit into small pieces and set aside.

2. Whisk eggs with sugar, then add cornflour, lemon juice and zest. Beat well until there are no lumps.

3. Tip mixture into pan and add the water. Stir continuously over a medium high heat until it comes to the boil then simmer for 5 minutes or so until thick and glossy, still stirring to avoid lumps forming.

4. Remove pan from the heat and let the lemon cream cool. Then stir in the chopped fruit pieces, and spoon mixture into ramekins. Decorate with raspberries, blueberries or strawberries and refrigerate. Serve chilled, feeling super smug that you’ve fed everyone some fruity goodness for dessert. 

Preparation time – under 5 minutes

Cooking time – under 10 minutes

Serves 1 adult and 2 children

Ingredients 

4 eggs beaten

4 dessert spoons parmesan cheese

125g ricotta 

2 courgettes grated

dried herbs – a pinch of anything in your cupboard e.g. parsley or oregano

olive oil

Method

1. Preheat your grill to a medium-high heat. Next take a largish bowl and whisk together the beaten egg and herbs. Then add the parmesan, ricotta and courgettes and combine gently. 

2. On the hob, heat a glug of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Then tip the mixture in and cook for about 5 minutes. You should see the edges start to cook, but the centre is still runny. 

3. Next place the pan under the grill. Not too close to the heat though. After 2 minutes the frittata should have started to turn golden on top. Remove from grill and slide frittata onto plate where you can cut it up like a pizza.

Preparation time – 5 minutes

Cooking time – 30 minutes

Serves  2 adults and 2 children

Ingredients

(You’ll need a hand held blender or food mixer)

pasta (60-80g per adult portion) I think fusilli spirals work best with this sauce

4-6 top quality pork sausages

1 small onion or a couple of shallots finely chopped

1-2 teaspoons of fennel seeds

spinach – a big handful per person

crème fraîche (optional)

Method

1. Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook pasta till al dente.  Meanwhile in a second largish pan (that has a lid to use later), gently fry onion until translucent. 

2. Score the sausages lengthways with a sharp knife. Then hold them for a couple of seconds under cold running water. This makes it dead easy to pop them out of their skins. Throw skinless sausages into the pan and use a wooden spoon to break them  up into smaller pieces as they cook. Add fennel seeds.

3. When the sausage meat is cooked through, take out a couple of dessert spoonfuls and set aside. Then chuck the spinach into the pan on top of the rest of the meat and stick the pan lid on. In a few minutes the spinach will have wilted and softened. Give it a good stir through until all spinach leaves look like pond slime (I’m partial to an accurate description!).

4. Next take your blender and lightly blitz the spinachy meaty mixture. Don’t puree it though. Afterwards, add back in the spoonfuls of crumbly sausage meat you set aside before. I think this adds nice texture, and kids like picking the sausage bits out. Add a dollop of crème fraîche if you like. Then tip cooked pasta into the sauce so its all beautifully coated.

Preparation time 30-40 minutes

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

Ingredients

600g peeled potatoes 

200g beetroot

150g tuna drained

2 hard boiled eggs peeled and sliced

cornichons or gherkins sliced

mayonnaise

salt and pepper

parsley – a couple of sprigs finely chopped

Method

1. You’ll need 2 pans on the hob. One to cook the the peeled spuds. Keep them whole or halved unless they’re enormous. Stick the beetroots in the second pan of boiling water. When beets are cooked and soft, peel and cut into little cubes (1-2cm). Make sure the potatoes are cooked but still firm and not overdone. Drain and set aside to cool. Then chop spuds into 2-3 cm cubes.

2. Tip the drained tuna into a big bowl and mash with a fork. Add 2 or 3 dessert spoons of mayonnaise and the potato cubes. Mix together. This is why you don’t want overcooked spuds or they turn to mash at this point. Then add beetroot and seasoning. Combine more gently so beets don’t disintegrate.

3. Transfer the deliciously pink mixture to your serving bowl. Then spread a thin layer of mayo on top before decorating with hard boiled egg, cornichons, and parsley.

Preparation time : 30 minutes (if making your own pastry)

Cooking time : 15 minutes 

Makes 12 tartlets

Ingredients

For the pastry :

(You can of course use shop bought shortcrust pastry, but if you want to make your own, this recipe was dead easy and made delicious pastry ) 

110g cold butter diced

125g plain flour

50g golden caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinammon

pinch of orange zest

1/4  of a beaten egg (optional)

For the filling

1 250g tub ricotta cheese

2 dessert spoons of Nutella

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C (180C fan assisted) and grease a 12 hole baking tin. Drain the ricotta in a sieve to get rid of the liquid. Then put in a mixing bowl with the Nutella and fold together well. Set aside. Lick spoon. 

2. If you’re making the pastry yourself, first rub together butter and flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then add sugar, cinnamon and orange zest. Mix well before squeezing the mixture into a ball and kneading it briefly.  Break off small balls of the dough, a bit bigger than a walnut in size, and push into each hole in the tin, pressing the dough up the sides so it’s evenly spread. For the rustic look ask a small person to help. If you find the dough too crumbly or you want to be able to roll it out and use cutters, add 1/4 of a beaten egg to the dough.

3. Next gently prick the bottom (ouch!) of each pastry case with a fork and blind bake for 2 minutes. Remove tray from oven and spoon a couple of generous teaspoons of the Nutella and ricotta mix into each case. You’ll have a little left over. Keep it for an easy children’s pudding with sliced banana.  Or eat it yourself whilst the tartlets are cooking.

4. Put baking tray back in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until pastry is golden. Remove and wait 5-10 minutes until removing tartlets or they’ll collapse on you. Serve warm or cold. For grown ups I can highly recommend eating with a dollop of brandy-laced mascarpone or cream.