Wormy spaghetti for kids
Try this vegetarian wormy spaghetti recipe to add some fun back into your family’s five-a-day.
Some kids love anything creepy and crawly – even when it’s on their plate! That’s why this fun wormy spaghetti, inspired by Roald Dahl’s The Twits, is perfect for a kid who fancies a bit of the fantastic with their spaghetti. Disgustingly delicious!
Ingredients
This recipe serves five.
For the tomato sauce:
- 1.5 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 celery stick
- 1 garlic clove
- Optional: bay leaf
- 2 tins of chopped tomato
For the worms (spaghetti):
- 520g flour (00 flour is preferable but if you have plain flour that will work just fine)
- 200ml water, plus a bit extra – it will depend on the type of flour you are using
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Extra flour for dusting and kneading
- 6-8 tbsp of tomato paste
- Salt for the cooking water
Method
- Finely chop the vegetables.
- Heat the oil in the pan and add the veg, and the bay leaf if you’re using that.
- Allow to soften for 10-15 minutes – get someone to keep an eye on it and stir this occasionally. Add a pinch of salt if you’re using that.
- When tender and slightly golden, stir in the tinned tomatoes – add about 75ml of water and leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes or until thickened, making sure to stir occasionally so that the sauce doesn’t stick.
- While you’re waiting for the sauce to thicken you can get started on your worms!
- Sieve flour into mixing bowl and make a well in the middle for the oil and water.
- Add oil to the flour and add lukewarm water to the mix and blend together using a fork or your hands.
- Once the mix has started to take form (don’t worry if it’s a bit dry or crumbly at this stage) split the dough in two.
- Add 6 tbsp of the tomato paste to one half. If the mixture is still a little dry you can add one or two more tablespoons if needed. Mix this in with your hands – as you knead the dough it will mix to be one colour.
- To the other half add some more water if needed.
- Sprinkle some flour over the work surface and knead the dough until the mix has blended completely. Do this for both your white and red dough.
- All hands on deck! Now we need to make our worms. Pinch off balls of dough from your main ball, about the size of a £1 coin.
- Roll this in your floured hands to make a tube shape – once the tube is as big as the hand continue rolling on the floured surface until the tube is about ½ cm thick.
- Place each tube on a floured chopping board until you’re ready to cook. Do this for both the white and the red dough.
- Boil some water in a pan and add a pinch of salt to the water. Cooking time varies depending on the thickness of the pasta you have made, this averages between 30 seconds and 1½ minutes. If you taste the pasta, you want it to still be slightly chewy but make sure the flour has cooked.
- Once the pasta is cooked, drain the water, save about 2 tbsp and add to the tomato sauce and stir. Add the tomato sauce to the pasta.
- Serve on the plate and add a small sprinkling of cheese.
- Enjoy!
Add some extra vegetables to your sauce to bulk up your five-a-day – or add a little dried chilli or oregano to your sauce, if you want to give it a bit of a kick.
Looking for more meals kids will love? Take a look at our healthy recipes.