How comedian Katherine Ryan recovered from her son saying her cooking ‘tastes like dirt’

Katherine Ryan is well practiced at cutting down the chaos of family dinnertimes

Katherine Ryan shares three kid-friendly recipes

Katherine Ryan knows all too well how savage kids can be, particularly after her toddler said her food tastes like “dirt”.

“He said, mummy’s cooking is disgusting. Her cooking tastes like dirt was a real blow,” the Canadian comedian recounts of her toddler, Fred.

Ryan has three children — Violet, 14, from a previous relationship, Fred, two, and Fenna, 15 months, with her childhood sweetheart and partner Bobby Kootstra.

Fred is her most difficult child to wrangle at dinnertime, and she’s gone to desperate lengths just to get him to try her food.

“I’ve made a deal with him — I’ve said you can taste it and if you want to spit it out, you’re allowed and you won’t be in trouble. Just put it in your mouth and taste it and see if you like it. Then he’ll be like, OK, and he’ll allow himself to take a bite. And even if he spits it out, everyone in the kitchen goes, ‘Really well done, Fred. Wow! Great. Did you see how Fred tried that? That was really cool’.

“So basically, I’m raising a toxic male and rewarding him for absolutely nothing,” Ryan jokes.

She adds: “Fred’s taught me a lot about life, about men, about myself.” 

Katherine Ryan has three children — Violet, 14, Fred, two, and Fenna, 15 months. Picture: Gousto/PA

London-based Ryan had her first child when she was 25, and says having two more over a decade later was a completely different experience.

Now she’s 40, she admits to having “less energy” than before, but adds: “I’ve learned this time that every child is so different and you have to reserve your judgement. Violet just happened to be this wonderful, amenable, happy all the time and do whatever I said and eat whatever I fed her type of child.

“And then my son came along and Fred is a tricky customer — he is such a fussy eater and such a high-maintenance guy in general, that I have had to pivot a bit as a parent, especially at mealtimes.”

And that’s not the only thing that changed for Ryan.

“I have a husband now, so it’s not just all up to me. My husband is such a softy and he will feed Fred pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner, because that’s what Fred wants, but I really have to dig my heels in and be like, no, that’s not appropriate. At some point, we need to offer him other sources of nutrition and branch him out.” 

When it was just Ryan and Violet, she says: “We were eating out a lot, or I was getting takeaway a lot, and I wasn’t proud of that. It didn’t make me feel confident that my daughter was getting the right kind of nutrition, that I was getting the right kind of nutrition. Our choices were really limited.

“Especially around 2019, when my husband came into our lives and my daughter started to get bigger and be able to cook herself, I really wanted to prioritise family mealtimes.” 

Initially, the two younger kids were eating around five, Violet would eat on her own when she got back from school and social commitments, and Ryan and Kootstra would finally have dinner around 9:30pm, “Which is a really unacceptable time to eat unless you are European.”

Bluey-inspired fish goujons from Gousto. Picture: Gousto/PA

Ryan worried that Violet was missing out on “really useful, essential conversation that accidentally comes out around the dinner table”, so now the schedule has changed a bit, particularly as the family uses Gousto recipe boxes.

They’re now “making dinner just the once — when Violet is home, she sits down with her brother and sister and eats at five. When she’s not home, we have dinner already ready, so we’ll sit with her for a bit before we do bedtime, bathtime, and then we’ve eaten ourselves.

“I think in the modern world, we lose sight of how important it is to have a traditional family dinnertime.” 

Ryan says Gousto’s new Bluey-inspired range of meal boxes helps cut through the chaos of dinnertime, engaging the little ones in what they’re eating — particularly as they’re superfans of the CBeebies show.

“Involving [Fred] in the preparation of meals is what helps him feel safer about trying a variety of food,” Ryan explains — and some of the meals she’ll dress up for adults later, for example adding pine nuts to a cheesy asparagus and tomato orzo dish: “It means we don’t have to make dinner three separate times and dirty every pot in the kitchen.”

Bluey-inspired BBQ chicken with crispy potatoes. Picture: Gousto/PA. NOTE TO EDITORS: This 

Ultimately, her advice for parents is simple: keep as calm as possible.

“We’re all doing our best, especially when you’re juggling children and your relationship and your time for self-care and work. I am not under any delusions that my job is a job — I know people have it a lot harder than I do.” Particularly around feeding kids, all you can do is your best.

“But if it doesn’t go your way, don’t stress — because I have put my kids to bed without dinner. Not by choice, but just because they wouldn’t eat something. I’ve offered them a few snacks and they still drink milk and they still keep growing.

“So worst-case scenario, toddlers seem to be able to exist on a pack of raisins a day — don’t stress if they’re not eating, because that will make them more stressed. I think it’s great to offer a variety of healthful, delicious options. Then if they don’t want it, if you have a meltdown — they’re definitely not going to want it the next time.

“My only advice to parents is to stay as calm as you can, as often as you can.” 

• Gousto ambassador, comedian and Bluey-superfan, Katherine Ryan, is celebrating the launch of Gousto’s Bluey’s Family Dinner range in partnership with BBC Studios.

Bluey-inspired BBQ chicken with crispy potatoes

A midweek meal the whole family will love.

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 37 mins

Total Time

 52 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 2 pieces of British chicken breast

• 15ml Henderson’s Relish

• 150g canned sweetcorn

• 1tsp ground smoked paprika

• 1 red pepper

• 1 spring onion

• 30ml tomato ketchup

• 16g tomato paste

• 1 white potato

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C (fan)/gas 7, then take your chicken out of the fridge, open the packet and let it air. Chop your potatoes into small bite-sized pieces, then deseed your pepper (scrape the seeds and pith out with a teaspoon) and dice finely. Trim, then slice your spring onion and drain your sweetcorn.

2. Combine your tomato ketchup, tomato paste, Henderson’s Relish, most of your ground smoked paprika (you’ll use the rest later!) and two teaspoons of sugar in a bowl. Add 140 millilitres cold water and a pinch of salt and give everything a good mix up – this is your BBQ sauce.

3. Add the chopped potatoes to a baking tray (or two!) with a drizzle of vegetable oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Give everything a good mix up and put the tray in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden and crisp.

4. Heat a large, wide-based pan (preferably non-stick) with a drizzle of olive oil over a medium-high heat. Once hot, add your chicken breast portions and cook for three minutes on each side or until golden.

5. Once the chicken has browned, remove the pan from the heat and add the BBQ sauce. Return the pan to a medium heat, cover with a lid and cook for a further 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through (no pink meat!) – this is your Heeler-style BBQ chicken.

6. Meanwhile, heat a pot over a medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil. Once hot, add the diced pepper with a pinch of salt and cook for six to seven or until softened (add a splash of water if the pot is looking a little dry!) Once softened, add the drained sweetcorn to the pan and cook for a further one to two minutes or until the sweetcorn is warmed through – this is your pepper and corn salad.

7. Add a knob of butter to a bowl with the remaining ground smoked paprika. Add the bowl to the microwave for 20 seconds or until the butter has completely melted – this is your smoky butter.

8. Serve the Heeler-style BBQ chicken with the pepper and corn salad and crispy potatoes to the side. Top the salad with the sliced spring onion and smoky butter.

[recipe11656[/recipe]

Bluey-inspired fish goujons

It’s a healthier update on your classic fish and chips.

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 50 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 15ml Henderson’s Relish

• 2 basa fillets

• 160g blanched peas

• ½tbsp curry powder

• 1tsp ground paprika

• 60g panko breadcrumbs

• 1 sweet potato

• 30ml tomato ketchup

• 1 white potato

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C (fan)/gas 7. Peel and cut your potato and sweet potato into fries – these are your mixed fries.

2. Add the mixed fries to a large baking tray (or two!) with a drizzle of vegetable oil and a pinch of salt and give everything a good mix up. Put the tray in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the fries are tender and starting to crisp.

3. Meanwhile, slice your basa fillets in half lengthways. Slice each half into two pieces (roughly the size and shape of fish fingers) so that you are left with four basa strips per person.

4. Add a handful of flour to a plate and a splash of milk to a bowl. Add your panko breadcrumbs to another plate with your ground paprika, a generous drizzle of vegetable oil and a pinch of salt. Coat the basa strips in the flour, tap off any excess, then add it into the milk and finally press it into the breadcrumbs firmly to evenly coat all over.

5. Add the breaded basa strips to a separate baking paper-lined baking tray (or two!) and put the tray in the oven for 12-15 min or until golden and cooked through – these are your fish goujons. Tip: Your fish is cooked once it turns opaque and flakes easily. Boil a kettle.

6. Whilst everything is cooking, combine your tomato ketchup in a bowl with your curry powder, Henderson’s Relish and a pinch of salt – this is your curry ketchup.

7. Once everything is almost ready, add your blanched peas to a pot, cover them with boiled water and bring to the boil over a high heat. Cook for one min or until they’re warmed through, then drain and return to the pot with a knob of butter.

8. Serve Bluey’s fish goujons with the mixed fries, peas and curry ketchup to the side. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if needed.