One way to get kids to try new things at mealtimes while also teaching them about nutrition is to hand them a spoon (or bowl or knife if they’re old enough) and invite them to join you in preparing dinner. It’s about receiving.
Sons and daughters tend to eat food that they have prepared themselves, and by teaching them even a little bit how to cook, you are developing life skills that will be useful once they become independent. At university, at work, and everywhere else in life.
It’s also fun to have a little one-on-one “us” time with the kids. I can tell you from experience that they grow very quickly and are gone in a flash, almost imperceptibly.
Iron Chef and cookbook author Alex Guarnaschelli shares how cooking with his teenage daughter Eva is fun and inspirational in his new cookbook, Cook it Up It shows.
In it, they share over 70 recipes that define modern family meals. Eva tends to find inspiration in her TikTok, while Alex draws from her classical French cooking training, decades of repeated cooking in restaurants, and cooking on TV.
“We just want kids and adults to cook together and share each other’s ideas,” they write in the preface.
“Eva said to me, ‘You know what, Mom, I don’t want my kids to feel like they have to make their own food?'”
This easy recipe for chicken meatball skewers uses two cooking techniques. After being shaped into balls or cylinders, the seasoned meat is first boiled in water, then browned, drizzled with sweet and spicy yakitori sauce, and placed on a hot grill.
I served it over rice and doubled the sauce recipe to make enough for extra dipping. If you use wooden skewers, be sure to soak them in water for 20 minutes before grilling to avoid burning.
chicken meatball skewers
1 pound ground chicken
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 small shallot, grated
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 1/2 teaspoons
kosher salt
1 large egg (lightly beaten)
4 tablespoons soy sauce (separated)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar (separated)
3 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon sugar
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
metal or wooden skewers for grilling
Cooked rice (for serving)
Make the meatballs: In a large bowl, combine the chicken, breadcrumbs, shallots, ginger, cornstarch, a generous pinch of salt, egg, and 2 tablespoons soy sauce. (I chopped the ginger and shallots rather than microplaning them.) Mix with a rubber spatula and add 1 tablespoon of vinegar.
Roll the mixture into 24 meatballs or 18 cigar-shaped cylinders.
Place a wire rack over a baking sheet. Fill a shallow 2-quart pot 3/4 full and bring to a boil over medium heat. Season the water with salt.
Grease a wooden spoon with oil to prevent the meatballs from sticking and carefully drop 6 to 8 meatballs into the water. Simmer for 5-7 minutes until fully cooked. (You can test by removing one and cutting it in half.) Using a slotted spoon, remove to a rack.
Bring the water back to a boil and repeat with the remaining meatballs.
While the meatballs are cooling, make the sauce. Combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, mirin, remaining 1 tablespoon of vinegar, and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer over medium heat until slightly thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.
Preheat your grill or grill pan. While heating, thread 3 meatballs or 1 cylinder onto the top half of each skewer.
Once the grill starts smoking, dip a kitchen towel in oil and apply oil to the grill grates. Arrange several skewers in rows.
Cook for 5 minutes until golden brown and grill hot, markings. Repeat with remaining skewers.
Use a brush to brush the sauce over the meatballs and serve hot.
Serves 4 people.