Finger food for little pincers

Ok, sorry I haven’t given you any fab recipes for a bit, but the Imp is going through an obsession with his pincer grip. The only things he’ll seriously think about eating are peas and sultanas. I don’t know if anyone has any good recipes for just peas and sultanas. I’m stumped. He did eat some spaghetti the other day (with peas of course), but most everything else is getting the off-the-tray-and-onto-the-floor treatment. Guess I’ll just ride this one out …

Salmon Fishcakes

Ok, we all know that salmon is super high in wonderful omega-3 essential fatty acids, so gooooood for little developing brains, so while you can really make fishcakes with a lot of different types of fish, salmon is my fish of choice.

2 pieces of salmon, skinned

5 medium potatoes

1 bunch coriander, finely chopped

peas (frozen if you wish, no problem)

1 tsp grated lemon rind

1 tblsp lemon juice

flour as you need

breadcrumbs

Cook the salmon as you like, pan fry or bake, you can leave it slightly underdone as it will be cooked again later.

Steam to the potatoes and mash them.

Pull the salmon into flakes and mix all ingredients except breadcrumbs. Add a little flour if the mixture seems too wet. Form into patties with your hands and dip into breadcrumbs. Pan fry or bake. You can freeze these for handy no fuss dinners and lunches.

Monkfish Curry Rice

A word of warning.

Tumeric.

Does.

Stain.

With napisan on hand you can bravely give this to your little fingers to munch on and shove in their mouth as they deem appropriate (all etiquette aside). Hold the chilis for the adults though, unless your little one shows a taste for a lil more spice.

1 kg white fish such as the lovely monkfish (I would also recommend swordfish apart from its high mercury content, so not so good for little Imps unfortunately) cut into largish chunks

2 tsp tumeric

5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander seeds

400mL coconut milk

2 onions, cut into chunky pieces

4 potatoes, chopped into baby friendly pieces

1 small pumpkin/butternut squash, again in baby friendly pieces

1 tablespoon tamarind paste

1 green chili

a little oil

500mL water or stock

Heat oil and cook onions about 5 minutes until softened. Add the ginger, cumin, tumeric and coriander seeds and fry with the onions on low heat for a few more minutes. Add the potato and pumpkin/squash and mix well. Then pour in the coconut milk, add tamarind paste and add the water/stock and cook until potato and pumpkin are soft. When the pumpkin and potato are almost done, add the fish and cook around 5 minutes or so.

Serve with rice and topped with coriander (and serve with chopped chillies for the heat lovers)

(you can also use any other veg on hand in the curry, I used some lovely sugar snap peas and carrots, I imagine green beans would work really well too )

Mono- and diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids?? (aka Recipe for Fish Fingers)

I read the ingredients of the supermarket fish fingers as: Cod fillet (58%), crumb coating Crumb coating contains wheat flour, palm oil, water, potato starch, wheat starch, salt, yeast, turmeric, mustard powder, natural colours paprika extract and curcumin, pepper extract, emulsifier mono- and diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids.

Anyway, there were too many words in that last line that I had no idea about, so I though I’d go about making my own instead.

Amberjee’s Fish Fingers

400 g fish

120 g breadcrumbs

2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, grated

squeeze of lemon juice

tsp dried herbs like thyme, oregano etc.

3 tablespoons plain flour

olive oil

Stick it all in a blender apart from breadcrumbs and olive oil. Add a little olive oil to bind if mixture is too dry. Shape mixture into fingers with your hands. Roll them in breadcrumbs and place on a plate or foil in the fridge for a half hour or longer. Then heat some oil in a frying pan and pan fry until golden. Yum!

Roast Chicken, Potato and Cherry Tomatoes

What a wonderful dish and the Imp gobbled it down, as did I.

8 chicken thighs, bone removed (this is even better if you have a friendly butcher who will do the work for you!)

10 medium potatoes, scrubbed clean

1-2 punnets cherry tomatoes, or use a mix of interesting looking tomatoes if you get to a decent market

olive oil

bunch of fresh thyme

Boil the potatoes until just soft, drain and push down with your thumb so they crack apart a little. Brown the chicken in a frying pan for a few minutes. Score one end of the tomatoes and boil them for a minute. The skins will easily peel off now. Arrange the chicken, potatoes and tomatoes in a roasting dish. In a mortar and pestle, crush up the fresh thyme, then you can add some olive oil to make a thyme oil infusion kind of thing. Pour this over your roast and put in a medium oven for around 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the potatoes brown on top.

The simple things in the oven

You don’t have to get all fancy when it comes to feeding your little one finger food. Personally I think one of the tastiest treats is your favourite vegetable rubbed in olive oil and left in the oven for a bit. Either cut your veg into chip shapes or manageable chunks, rub with a little oil, sprinkle with herbs if you wish. No salt for the little people, you can add yours later.

Try potato, pumpkin (butternut squash), summer squash, sweet potato, tomatoes (though can get messy), beetroot, parsnip, carrots, even kohlrabi!

You can usually tell when they are cooked, as they start to smell delicious and make your mouth water.

On how many ice cubes …

I was at a stay and play session this morning. I must have gotten there too early, as at the beginning there were only 2 mums (and babies) there. So I got caught in the middle of the age old weaning conversation between the mum of a 5 1/2 month old and the mum of a 6 month old. The first mum was very concerned as her daughter had been eating a whole ice cube for the past week for every meal. And this morning she didn’t eat so much as a teaspoon. Mum number 2 gave a fascinating expose about the timing of meals and how to fit naps and milk around that. Apparently I’m failing as a mum because I don’t give lunch on the dot of 12.00. Well sometimes I might. Or it might be the dot of 1.00. Or the dot of 1.27. Well, you get the picture.

Mum number 1 was also saying that she didn’t know how much to feed her daughter. Apparently her health visitor said to feed as much as she would eat. Sounds sensible to me. But mum wasn’t happy with that. She wanted a breakdown of how many teaspoons, how many icecubes.

Sometimes the only way I know how much the Imp has actually eaten is by the contents of the next day’s nappies. Sometimes I’ve thought that he ate something in it’s entirety, only to find it hidden in a groove in the highchair or pram when cleaning up later. I do have those moments of maybe-if-my-baby-ate-my-solids-he-would-sleep-through-the-night but then I slap myself back to reality.

I like to watch the Imp playing with his food, exploring the textures and consistencies. And sometimes he even eats those things with their fabulous textures and consistencies, but the exploration is just as important as the eating – I try not to lose sight of that.

Like they say, until they’re one, it’s just for fun. What happens after they’re one is I suppose, anyone’s guess.

Stuffed Summer Squash

At the farmers markets this morning the bright sun-yellow summer squash became irresistable to me. I bought a handful, but now I regret not buying more. Regret not, as there is always next week! I made these stuffed summer squash and they are a little more-ish… for myself as much as for the Imp.

6 medium summer squash

1 medium carrot

1/2 onion

1/2 cup grated cheese

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

Boil the squash and carrot for about 10 minutes until they are only slightly tender. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the middle, so the squash skins form a neat little case. Chop onion, carrot and garlic very finely. Fry them with a little oil. Add in chopped squash flesh that you have scooped out and saute a few minutes. Remove from heat and mix together with cheese and breadcrumbs. Put the squash cases onto a baking tray and spoon the mixture into the squash cases. You can sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs if you wish. Bake in medium oven about 20 minutes.

Enjoy.

Potato Parmesan Rosti

It’s the day before my Abel & Cole veg box delivery so I went through the fridge to figure out what need to be used up. A mountain of potatoes, a few carrots and a zucchini. So where to from there – ah, the humble potato rosti. As the Imp is in a serious potato craze at the moment, these are sure to meet with his approval.

Potato Parmesan Rosti

450g potatoes

1 medium zucchini

2 medium carrots

handful grated parmesan

1 small onion

olive oil

tablespoon butter

Grate zucchini, carrot, potato and squeeze excess moisture out and put into large bowl. Mix in grated parmesan. Finely chop onion and fry for a few minutes in butter and a drizzle of oil. Add to potato mixture and mix well. Spoon balls of mixture onto baking tray and slightly flatten. Bake in 200 degree oven for 15 minutes. Turn and bake a further 10 minutes. Makes about 12.

Oh, they are in the oven now and I’m counting down the minutes!

Baked Polenta Fries

Heidi Swanson is my hero. Check out her baked polenta fries. I’ve omitted the salt in hers …

2 cups organic milk

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups polenta

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup melted clarified butter or olive oil

Bring the milk and water just to a boil in a large saucepan. Slowly stream in the polenta while stirring constantly. Turn down the heat a bit if needed (you don’t want the polenta to scorch). Continue stirring until the polenta thickens up, this can take anywhere from just a few minutes to much longer depending on your polenta. Stir in the cheese.

Remove from heat and spread out 1/2-inch thick onto a baking sheet using a spatula (although I feel like I get a better shape by letting it cool a minute or two and then using my hands). Chill in a refrigerator for at least an hour, or overnight. Cut into wide-cut “fry” shapes using a straight-edge for guidance and uniformity (or opt for a more rustic cut). Rub each fry with a bit of clarified butter or olive oil.

Bake in a 450 degree oven, middle rack, for 20 minutes or until golden and crispy. Flip the fries once after ten minutes.

Makes 2 dozen wide-cut fries.