What Our Editors Cooked for Their Kids This Week

Many Bon Appétit staffers are busy parents who need to get dinner on the table, now. This can be a Tetris-like task with varying eaters at play (the picky ones, the adventurous ones, the cheese-only ones). Here are the recipes, modifications and all, that our editors cooked up this week to feed their families.

Fridge dump pesto

10-minute pesto is a go-to in our house. It entered the rotation in the toddler years as a way to get more greens into our otherwise green-averse kids. These days, it appears when we are in a pinch for a weeknight dinner, need to cook for a last-minute gathering of parents and children, or have an abundance of vegetables that need some TLC. I start by dropping pasta in salted boiling water. From there, it’s a race against the clock (our kids love a challenge so we get them involved). We make the pesto inspired in part by this recipe and I use whatever I have on hand: usually basil, spinach, kale, parsley, or broccoli rabe. Into a food processor goes garlic, roasted nuts, Parmesan, and I like to add some lemon for brightness. Then I throw in the greens, olive oil, and blend away. Of course you could add this sauce to plain noodles, but generously buttering them first goes a long way with kids and adults alike. —Pervaiz Shallwani, senior staff writer and editor

Dinner for a caper lover

One of my otherwise-picky son’s delightfully odd preferences is capers. A true New Yorker, he’s loved them since the first time he had a bagel with nova. “MORE CAPERS, PLEASE,” was literally one of his first complete sentences. With that proclivity in mind, I decided it was high time he try chicken piccata, or “caper chicken,” as I pitched it to him(though there’s a separate recipe for that too). I went heavy on the capers; skipped the ground pepper (“too spicy”); and kept the lemon and parsley (“too sour; too green”) as a side garnish for me and my wife. It was a hit with the whole family—easy enough for a neophyte cook such as myself and with minimal cleanup. On a personal note, I also always appreciate a recipe that calls for a cup of wine, because then there’s another cup of wine at the table. —Nick Traverse, editorial operations director

Jackpot chicken stir-fry

I would lose money betting on what dishes my entire family will happily eat. Getting even three out of the four of us to agree on dinner counts as a victory. Enter my colleague Shilpa Uskokovic’s miraculous Basil Chicken Stir-Fry. It combines flavors familiar to my family from pad thai—the 1-2-3 punch of heat from sambal oelek, lime juice, fish sauce—and is rounded out with umami-forward oyster sauce and sugar. It has been the salvation of many a tray of ground chicken, which let’s face it, usually needs a lot of help to really shine. Sure, my kids picked out every single leaf of basil, but the rest, they ate with abandon. As far as I am concerned, that’s hitting the jackpot. —Chris Morocco, food director

This savory and spicy dinner takes less than 30 minutes to make.

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Nourishing and nutritious udon

There isn’t a carb in the world my one-and-a-half year old doesn’t love. When it comes to her meals, if a noodle, bread, or rice is present, I can usually sneak in some form of vegetable without too much protest. That’s why I turn to Just One Cookbook’s Niku Udon week after week. The noodles are frozen, the broth is made from instant dashi, the beef is pre-sliced, and it’s all seasoned with pantry staples like soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Where I riff on the recipe is by incorporating vegetables. I’m borderline obsessed with getting my toddler to eat anything nutritious willingly, so leafy greens like spinach or bok choy get tossed in with the marinated beef and simmer away on the stove. When it all comes together, the combination of warm broth, tender meat, and bouncy noodles are guaranteed to be a hit, even with little ones. —June Kim, head of digital video

My daughter’s favorite pizza

Who doesn’t love pizza? I’d be hard-pressed to find a single kid (or adult) who claims not to. Our family has fallen head-over-heels with senior test kitchen editors Jesse Szewczyk and Shilpa Uskokovic’s Incredibly Good Cheese Pizza—enough so that it’s become my daughter’s preferred in-house pizza request. It can be languidly started Wednesday or Thursday and ready to be flung on Friday or Saturday. And there’s something for everyone in the form of toppings. When my daughter was smaller and less spice-tolerant, we kept a range of spice levels available (both mild salami and kicky soppresata), plus spice-forward accents on the side (chili oil and Calabrian chili paste). —Hana Asbrink, deputy food editor

Incredibly Good Homemade Pizza

You don’t need a pizza oven (or even a baking stone) for our test kitchen’s ultimate recipe.

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