Pasta and vege fritters with tomato sauce

Photographer: Emma
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These fritters are a nice alternative to making cabonara or macaroni cheese for hungry little mouths.

I’ve just come home after spending 5 days in Oz with my sister, her boyfriend and his two daughters. The palates these 8 and 10 year old girls have never cease to amaze me as they were both just as keen as us to nosh down Vietnamese Pho, Thai rabbit curry and Chinese duck, green paw paw and fresh longon salad.  Spending time with these two clever, inquisitive and beautiful little girls made me see that food experiences are just as significant for kids as they are for adults.  Knowing what they are eating and where it comes from is important and many schools are recognising this with their own vege patches and food education initiatives. When I was talking about my tomato tree at home, the younger of the two said “oh I thought tomatoes grew on plants” – like I said, very clever.

It was so nice having Laura’s cousin Rhylee with us to taste and critique our food.  This was the first recipe up and she gobbled down her fritter with no hesitation.

Because tomato sauce and ketchup can be high in sugar and salt, I made my own.  I bought canned tomatoes which were already peeled, processed and strained so all I needed to do was heat and add a little sugar.

INGREDIENTS

Fritters
200g spaghetti
1 onion, finely diced
2 tsp oil
2 slices of Champagne ham, finely diced
1 carrot, grated
1 courgette, grated
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
½ c parmesan, grated
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
Oil for frying – I used rice bran

Tomato sauce
1 x 400g can tomatoes, blended and strained
2 tbsp white sugar

METHOD

Fritters
(kids can grate the vegetables, cut the spaghetti with scissors and stir the fritter mixture)
1. Cook spaghetti in boiling water until it is al dente. Drain, cool under running water and set aside.
2. Fry the onion in 2tsp of oil until soft and translucent. Then add the ham and cook for a further 2 minutes. Set aside.
3. Beat the eggs and yolks in a mixing bowl and then add the grated parmesan and chopped parsley.
4. Add the grated vegetables to this mix.
5. Grab a handful of the spaghetti, hold it over the mixing bowl and with kitchen scissors, roughly cut spaghetti into shorter lengths. Alternatively you can place the spaghetti on a chopping board and cut a couple of times to reduce the length of the strands.
6. Stir it into the egg mix with the onion and ham.

Tomato sauce
7. Heat the canned tomatoes and sugar over a low heat for 15 minutes.
Now serve the fritters with a little bowl of the warm tomato sauce – YUM!