Italian Veggie Squares….an easy way to win a child

Hi all!

Last few days were very hectic and I felt that they were just flying. I had loads to finish especially the two round ups of the events and on top of it it was S’s birthday too, nothing could be ignored.

On S’s birthday I made Kakdiche Thalipeeth for breakfast and his favorite Menthya Soppu Bhath for his lunch box. I had planned to make a black forest cake for him. I separated the egg whites and yolks, beated the whites added the sugar and folded the flour and baked it too. While the cake was getting baked and I was making the ganache, I realised that I did not add the egg yolks to the cake batter…too late to add it. I continued  baking  the cake and realized later that it had a hard crust. I did not take any pains to beat the cream and just sandwiched the ganache in the two slices of cake and poured the ganache on top. The cake tasted like ‘rote’ which my great grandmother used to make in my childhood. The cake got over as it tasted good but I was surely disappointed with myself.

Anyhow, I have one enduring challenge these days, that’s to feed my younger one veggies. His recent hatred for them keeps me on toes all the time to improvise dishes where I can hide and sneak more veggies.

During my college days I had attended my friend Shweta’s birthday party. Her SIL had made an excellent snack/ starter called the Italian sandwich. The sandwich was extremely tasty and I asked her to share the recipe with me. I tried the recipe the very next day at home and my family loved it. I used to make it quite frequently in those days and post marriage somehow I never made it.

In my recent quest of searching veggie based preparations I was reminded of the Italian sandwich that I used to make. I thought of making it for the family and I made it for the breakfast, served it first to S who liked it and asked me to repeat the entire recipe, then I gave it to my younger one who initially frowned looking at the veggies but on tasting a bite, finished the entire plate saying it’s yummy. This recipe is so simple to make, the only time it takes is to chop the veggies.

I found this preparation a good way to win my child’s heart and I am sure whoever tries it will love it.

Ingredients

7-8 bread slices

50 ml fresh cream

1 green capsicum chopped

1 carrot grated

1 onion finely chopped

10-12 french beans finely chopped

salt to taste and

white pepper pwd about 2 tsp

1/2 cup Semolina

Method

In the cream mix all veggies and season with salt and pepper. This batter should be of a coating consistency as the veggies lose water on adding salt, so as a precaution add half the cream first and once the salt is added then after 5 minutes add more cream if required. In case you want to make for a large group keep mixing in batches as the mixture made needs to be used instantly.

Spread about 2 table spoons of the mix on a bread slice.

Sprinkle a little semolina on top.

Heat a non stick pan and toast the bread first on the veggie side, this takes about 5-6 minutes on low flame. Carefully turn it and toast the plain side of the bread. One does not need any butter or oil for toasting as the cream releases it’s own butter.

Cut into squares and serve immediately.