Get Your Kids to Eat Peas! (With Pasta and Sausage)

How am I so confident the picky eater in your life will give this dish the thumbs up? At ATK Kids, every recipe we publish is kid tested and kid approved, meaning thousands of kids make our recipes before they get the stamp of approval. And this recipe was very well received: One kid tester wrote, “It makes my tummy feel warm and fuzzy. It tastes so good that when I feel full I still want to eat another bite.”

If that’s not a ringing endorsement then I don’t know what is. Plus, cooking the whole thing in one pot makes for easy cleanup. It’s just one of many kid-friendly recipes you can find in The Complete Cookbook for Young Scientists, the fourth book in our New York Times best-selling cookbook series for young chefs.

The dish starts with ground sweet Italian sausage and chopped onion, which get sautéed together in a Dutch oven until the sausage is browned and dark brown bits start to form on the bottom of the pot. These browned bits, or fond, add lots of meaty flavor to the dish. Then, we add a precise amount of meaty chicken broth and pasta shells to make it a one-pot meal–no separate pasta boiling required. With the perfect ratio of liquid to pasta, the shells will absorb enough broth to both cook to al dente and thicken the sauce.

We round out the dish with lemon zest and juice for brightness; a handful of grated Parmesan for cheesy, umami richness; and, of course, the peas (we prefer frozen ones, which are sweeter and more convenient). The citrusy, savory notes balance the sweetness of the peas to make a dish that has way more kid appeal than a boring side of steamed peas. 

Picky-kid parents: You’ll want to add this recipe to your arsenal—I sure bet my parents wish they had it when I was a kid.