I don't know about you, but as a child, when my place was at the kiddie table, all I wanted was the grown up's gourmet looking food. For that reason, as soon as I saw the challenge theme (Healthy Yet Tempting Food for Children) I knew I wanted to make a jazzed up version of an old favorite, Mac and Cheese!
My original idea was vegetables mixed with spaghetti, covered in huancaína sauce (of peruvian origin). I was quite tired when I prepared this dish though, and unconsciously ended up throwing the vegetable mix in the sauce as spaghetti cooked. Technically you're eating the same thing, only it's not as colorful and well, tempting, in photos.
Ingredients (vegetable mix)
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 4 big onions
- 2 or 3 carrots (depending on size)
- vegetable oil
Preparation:
- Cut all the vegetables in thin long strips and sauté until they're fully cooked.
Ingredients (huancaína sauce):
vegetable oil
6 peruvian yellow peppers (they're not spicy)
2 garlic cloves
1/2 red onion
1/2 glass of milk
4 saltines
1 cup of white cheese (diced in cubes)
1 or 1 1/2 glass of milk
Preparation:
Sauté the peruvian peppers, garlic and red onion until they're medium cooked. Add a half glass of milk and let everything cool.
Grab your blender and throw in the cheese, saltines and vegetables with milk. Blend until it's a cream.
Pour the mix into your pan once more and add the rest of the milk. Let it reach boiling point and turn off the heat.
Lastly, boil spaghetti and then add vegetables. Serve the mix and pour sauce to your liking. There, you're done!
You can add some green on top to decorate, as well as parmesan cheese, of course.
The final product:
Note: As I shopped for ingredients, I could not find peruvian yellow pepper anywhere because of the season. I used yellow bell pepper instead, which is not similar in taste at all. In addition, if you follow the original recipe, the sauce should be a bright yellow and overall more visually attractive for kids.
Both mishaps aside, which definitely took color away from the dish, I really wanted to participate in a challenge and finally post original content. Thus, I leave you my entry.