Salmon and Corn Chowder – baby and you

I’ll begin by telling you that this is not a meal I would ever choose to make, or indeed eat. Having said that, once I’d put all the effort in (although there’s not too much of that if I’m honest) I grudgingly sat down to eat it. And was pleasantly surprised. So much so, in fact, that instead of freezing the remainders, we had them the next night, and I’ll definitely be making it again. Especially since Frankie also gobbled down a rather large left-over portion that wouldn’t fit in any of her freezer pots!

Again, if you don’t want all the peeling and chopping, which really doesn’t take too much time at all, you can always buy ready prepped veg. I like to add cheese to some of the meals to make sure the Little One gets some dairy too, and in this dish, it makes it creamier, but you could always leave it out if you’d prefer. As salmon is an oily fish, you should serve this to girls no more than twice a week, and boys up to four. (Big girls and boys can eat it as often as they’d like!) And for a completely veggie version I’d simply leave out the salmon and replace with a variety of beans.

Ingredients:

leeks

celery

potato

carrots

crushed garlic

sweetcorn (I used a tin)

peas (frozen is fine)

salmon (or any other fish)

water (twice as much than the milk)

whole milk (half the quantity of the water)

mascarpone

Method:

Pour a little rapeseed oil into the pan. You’ll need something fairly deep, I used a wok, as it filled up quite quickly! Most pure vegetable oil in the UK is rapeseed so just check the back and it’ll tell you what it’s made from. Rapeseed is one of the better oils to use.

Peel and chop the leeks, celery, potato and carrot into small pieces and fry off until beginning to soften. Add the garlic too.

Pour in enough water to just cover them and leave at a simmer until the potato and carrot are cooked through. Depending on the sizes of the cubes, this will probably take about 15-20 minutes. If the pans begins to look dry, add more water.

Add the corn, peas, salmon (chopped into chunks and checked carefully for bones) and milk. Again, enough milk to cover the ingredients.

Leave to simmer until the salmon is cooked though, probably no longer than 10 minutes, stirring in the mascarpone along the way.

Now, your baby portions are ready.

Baby:

Depending on which stage of weaning you’re at, either use a hand blender to mush baby’s portions until smooth, or simply fork the fish into small pieces and mash the rest. You can then freeze in individual portions.

Grown-Ups:

This recipe is one that definitely needs pepping up as is quite bland as it is, however, salt and pepper will do the trick perfectly.

The best things in life…

…include a dippy egg laid by the hens that morning with homemade bread toasted soldiers!

I hadn’t made bread for ages and didn’t have any shop-bought stuff in, so wanted to quickly whip up a batch loaf, knowing that we’d be having dippy eggs in the morning as Teddy, the Heritage Skyline hen, has just started laying blue eggs (only on the outside!) 

Jules kindly came up with a recipe for me and I gave it a go. Well, with the weather being pretty darn chilly, and me not leaving it enough time to prove, and also not following the method (I kneaded for ten mins, then left as really didn’t have enough time to do it properly whilst looking after the little one) it was, to say the least, heavy. Although the OH did comment ‘Not as heavy as some you’ve made!’ Talk about a back-handed compliment! I was also surprised by the lack of something sweet in the recipe to help the yeast along its way, but that’s more likely to be my lack of bread baking knowledge that brought me to that thought.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that the bread did the trick for toasted soldiers to dip into the freshly laid eggs, cooked til just dippy! Thanks Teddy.

All in One Fish Pie – a meal all the family can enjoy!

This turned out to be a real winner. My little one is like a bird with a constantly open mouth when she has this for her tea and really can’t get enough of it, which very much surprised me the first time I tried it.

Again, it’s very simple and really doesn’t take long to prepare and only really needs a little salt and more pepper to change it from a weaning recipe to one for grown-ups!

Ingredients

leeks

cauliflower

potato

parsley

whole milk

water

cod or any other white fish

spinach

cheese

Method

Slice the leeks, cut the cauliflower into small florets and peel and cube the potatoes.

Add a little unsalted butter or light oil, such as rapeseed, to the frying pan or wok and fry the above until browned and beginning to soften.

Sprinkle parsley into the veg mixture.

When browned, add a combination of whole milk and water until the veg is just covered. If your baby is under 6 months old, just add water. Simmer on a medium heat until the potatoes are cooked through.

Check the fish thoroughly for bones, ensuring they are all removed, then cube.

Add the cod and spinach to the pan and stir in. Leave to simmer until the fish is cooked through and the spinach wilted, probably about 10 minutes.

Grate some cheese, I used Cheddar, over the top and stir in. Don’t use too much for your little one though! A small chunk is plenty. You can always add more to the grown-up portion!

Baby:

Depending on which stage of weaning you’re at, either use a hand blender to mush baby’s portions until smooth, or simply fork the fish into small pieces and mash the rest. You can then freeze in individual portions.

Grown-Ups:

This recipe is tasty just as it is, but for extra flavour, add a little salt, pepper and lemon juice. You could always pop into an oven-proof casserole, top with potatoes (cooked sliced or mashed) and put into the oven for a tasty fish pie. Or separate the mixture before adding the fish and throw some prawns into the grown-up portion too!