Recipes for a preteen keen to cook

[ChocolateTea]

My year 8 son is super keen to start cooking for us all. He's been doing cooking at school in clubs (sadly they don't offer it for Gcse so he's doing art instead) but he's uber keen to start cooking at home.

We've just been treated to bacon sandwiches for lunch, and now he wants some recipes to be left cooking in the kitchen

Anyone got any good ideas? He's Aspergers so will need a little help, and as a family we go mostly for meat/potato or pasta dishes so fancy ingredient stuff won't work

Is there a webpage or book from amazon good for early cooks?

Good for him!
On BBc Good Food site there is a section for kids cooking

A really easy one is tray chicken bake.
Empty a packet of chicken drumsticks into a roasting tray. Depending on how easy he finds it to prep veg, he can then peel and chop into chunks some peppers, butternut squash (or sweet potato) and onions

or if he doesn't want to peel veg, use pre-diced from frozen

or just use a packet of baby potatoes and one of cherry tomatoes

In a mug, mix 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil with a big squeeze of garlic puree, 1/2 mug of white wine or water with a dash of lemon juice, some salt and pepper and a heaped teaspoon of dried or fresh chopped rosemary. Then pour it over the chicken and veg and stir/toss really well until evenly coated.

Bake for 35-45 mins at 200, until chicken juices run clear and veg are cooked. Serve with crusty bread and steamed peas.

Really easy. And once he's got the hang of the chicken drumstick tray bake you can vary it. Stir 2 heaped spoonfuls of curry sauce into 1/2 pot of natural yogurt, mix with the chicken, peeled chunky sweet potatoes for a very easy creamy curry, served with rice or naan and salad.

DD is a bit younger but likes watching Matilda and the Ramsey Bunch. She has a cookbook (which we haven't yet got) but we like watching her make them (and it gives me a good idea what we have to do!) and then make some of the recipes. Works well for me as I'm not a very confident cook myself. The recipes are here and the episodes are on the CBBCs website or iPlayer

My two DDs use the Complete Children's Cookbook from DK. Probably on Amazon. Has a good range of meals and puddings as step by step pictures which are useful. We've been treated to many different dishes and have all been tasty. They've generally managed with minimal supervision and they've used it since yr 5/6.

My daughter dips into Nigella Express - lots of recipes quick and easy. Also Jamie Oliver five ingredients book also good.

@woodcutbirds he loves a honey and mustard chicken I make with chicken thighs, so this is a fab recipe for him to try! I have screenshotted it, thank you so much - he will be able to go and get the ingredients himself from our local tesco too, which is a huge thing for him

@raera thank you! I didn't realise there was a link, will send it to him on WhatsApp now

@purplecrazyhorse we are so out of date with TV (unless it's police interceptors 😂) but he did used to love the BBC cooking shows on CBBC as a toddler (I found a photo of him the other day having made biscuits aged three, and him saying he wants to be a chef. Feel bad he went to a school without the food tech option now!) ill look at that link, thank you!!

@tollergirl I'll look that book up, thank you!

@pipandmum I wasn't sure if the Jamie Oliver five ingredients recipes presumed you had loads of stuff like herbs and spices in your cupboard? We don't have anything, I am a very basic jar and packet cooker

That's brilliant he wants to get involved with family meals!!
Try the hello fresh app or recipe book, it's step by step and illustrated, so really really straightforward, one of my friends 13 yo uses it to cook the family dinner once a week

how about home made pizza? The dough is fun to make and could get creative with the toppings.

My DS - simular age also ASD - likes to make up the Gousto boxes

Maybe get him a chopper, garlic crusher etc to help him with the jobs that require more dexerity.

@aimily I was thinking of looking into something like hello fresh or gusto actually, once DP moves in, just for a couple of meals a week - that way he could start getting the ingredients and the recipes. Do they do just the recipes on their website too?

@finfinitytart we've done pizza a couple of times, but they are both beyond dull with their pizza choices (plain cheese or pepperoni at a push) that it just doesn't work. They used to make them as 4/5 year olds, with ham, veg, olives, loads of stuff, but then got fussy! 😂

@InGoodCompany I will deffo look into it then. I know we are in a bit of a rut with meals tbh, but working almost full time I just do the usual dolmio or toad in the hole I know they will eat. This could be a good way to try new things

@teddybear45 being 12 and having done cooking at school for a couple of years in their after school clubs, he's can chop and peel and safely use the oven and hob . It's more the recipe timings he will need help with I think, I had to just let him know when to fry his egg today, and help with buttering the bread for his brothers sandwich as he couldn't figure out how to fry and butter at same time, but that will come (they do cooking club in pairs currently so share the work)

Mine 13 and 14 year olds are huge fans of Gousto too, they get 2 recipes each each week (DD is veggie, DS isn't!) and haven't had a duff one yet.

(If it's any consolation, DD is a very keen cook and was dissuaded from doing food tech, as it's very clinical and repetitive so maybe it's not a bad thing he didn't get to take it!)

Yes they do @chocolatetea you don't need an account, just click on the meal that you like the look of, it gives you an ingredient list and then a 6 step method.

I think you can print them too?

www.hellofresh.co.uk/menus/

My dp and I got the box every week for about 6 months last year, all of the breaks take between 20 minutes and 45 minutes to cook, so really easy and conviniant at the end of a long day 😁

Meals not breaks 😳

1. Lasagna / spaghetti with home made meatballs
2. Macaroni cheese (ask him to make a roux / white sauce base for a bit of extra challenge)
3. Home baked bread (Irish soda bread / potato farls to start but then can move onto other breads) / cakes / cookies.
4. Toad in the hole. It’s a lot of fun. There’s a great recipe on the guardian website.

Another fun one for that age group to make is the giant sausage roll.

Cut a packet of puff pastry in half and roll out each half to 1/2 cm thickness. Put one half onto some baking parchment on a baking tray.

Finely chop an onion.
Beat two eggs with 1 tsp each of salt and pepper
Mix the onion and 3/4 egg into 1 packet of either sausagemeat or minced pork until properly blended. (Both work equally well)
You can add a teaspoon of herbs and one of garlic puree and/or very finely chopped apricots, walnuts or apple too if you like at this stage, but you don't have to.
Spoon the sausage mix onto the base pastry, leaving a border of 2cm on all four sides. Now paint that border with what's left of the beaten egg. Lay the top layer of pastry over it and fold the border in on each side, pressing it down with the tines of a fork or your thumbs to make the two layers of pastry stick together.
Glaze the top with the rest of the egg mix. If you want, then score diagonal stripes into the top pastry layer for decoration.

Bake at 180 for 35-40 mins in the middle of the oven. Tell him it doesn't matter if it bursts open a bit or the juices run. It's supposed to look a bit rustic!

My DS has the DK cookbook for kids and it’s brilliant, not just recipes but techniques (teaches them for example the difference between boiling and simmering) and every recipe has ways you can change it up with slightly different ingredients. Instructions laid out easily to follow and loads of photos for inspiration

I find a lot of the recipes on the supermarket website really good, Sainsbury’s in particular.
At that age I think it’s a good idea to cook the basics that other meals evolve from. So mince dishes, ragu, chilli, cottage pie. Then that’s a meal with mash so could do fish cakes and fish pie.
Pasta bakes could start with ragu base with then look at using different ingredients, tomato mushroom and bacon, tuna and sweetcorn etc.
Then things like stir fry’s, oven tray bakes, pastry etc

I have a Y8 child with Aspergers who likes cooking. Any cookbook by Sam Stern has been a huge success, particularly the first one, which is specifically for teenagers

Delia's old 'How to Cook' series is brilliant for young cooks. Starts off simple, lays the groundwork for skills, and explains everything. I learned to cook using them from the age of about 11.

My OH got the youngest interested in cooking with Sam Stern's books. He wrote his first one with his mum when he was 14, they're very relatable and nothing too fancy.