Cooking From Your Favourite Book: A Viking Dinner
Bee and Bear’s favourite books at the moment are anything to do with the DreamWorks production, How to Train Your Dragon. While they are not quite ready for the original novels by Cressida Cowell, Bear and Bee’s interest in all things Viking and dragon related surpasses any other interest they might have for things like Frozen, princesses, puppies and kittens! Both girls love to be read to, and we do read a wide range of books on a wide range of topics, but when it came to choosing one book for this post I knew it would be fun to stick with the much-loved theme of dragons and Vikings. You can see some of the other stories that have inspired our cooking in our Learning and Play section.
Bear and Bee both dressed up as characters from How to Train Your Dragon for last week’s Book Week parade at school so they were very excited when I suggested a Viking inspired dinner.
There are lots of ideas around for dragon party food but I wanted something more suited to a family dinner so after a little online research, we devised our Viking dinner menu;
- Honey and rosemary lamb kebabs
- Spinach and carrot salad
- Flatbreads
- Oat bread with honey and fresh fruit
I used a really simple marinade recipe for the lamb kebabs. Threading small pieces of meat and vegetables onto skewers is a great way for kids to be involved in the kitchen (you might like to also check out our Sausage skewers recipe). If you are worried about the sharp ends on the bamboo skewers just snip them off with a pair of strong scissors. Most marinated meats, fish and softer vegetables like mushrooms and carrots can be easily threaded onto the blunted skewers.
Honey and rosemary lamb kebabs
You will need:
- 1 tablespoon honey, plus extra to serve
- 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 600grams diced lamb
- Bamboo skewers
To make:
1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the honey, 1 tablespoon of oil, lemon juice and rosemary.
2. Add the lamb and stir well to make sure all the lamb is covered with marinade.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 10 minutes (up to 30 minutes is good if you have the time).
4. Thread 4 or 5 pieces of lamb onto each bamboo skewer until all of the meat is threaded.
5. Heat a little of the extra oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat.
6. Add the lamb kebabs and cook for 2 minutes each side for medium or until cooked to your preference. Keep an eye on the kebabs as the honey in the marinade can burn. Lower the heat to medium if this starts to happen.
7. Place the kebabs on a serving plate and drizzle with a little of the extra honey.
8. Serve the kebabs with the salad and flatbreads.
For our dinner I used a quick yeast free recipe for the flatbreads, but feel free to use store bought ones if you don’t have the time. You can see our post on making flatbreads here.
The spinach and carrot salad was super simple and doesn’t really need a recipe. Wash some baby spinach leaves and place on a serving plate. Top with thin strips of carrot and red capsicum. Dress with a teaspoon or 2 of lemon juice. Your child can help with the salad by spinning the leaves dry in a salad spinner. Bear and Bee love to use our salad spinner whenever they get the chance!
Since we were short on time after coming home from dance class I used a bake at home oat bread, warm from the oven, sliced thickly and served with honey and strawberries. Happy Vikings all round!
