Baby Led Weaning

To be honest, I don’t really do much more than whack some chicken livers into the fying pan with some garlic or shallot or onion (whatever) and then blend it with some microwave melted butter and nice fresh thyme and a splash of Madeira – if it’s not for the baby. There are heaps of ways of making it, just make sure you give the chicken livers a nice rinse first and then pat dry before frying. And fry them in butter… what the hell, you only live once.

Here is A Proper Recipe, however. Not sure about rolling it into a log, but this is the way my Jewish chums make it, with boiled eggs.

1lb chicken livers
½ cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon pepper
½ cup grated onions
1-2 cloves garlic, mashed
4 eggs, hard boiled
2 tablespoons cognac, optional
1 cup chopped fresh parsley, optional

Cook chicken livers in boiling water for about 7-10 minutes; drain well.
Blend chicken livers with all other ingredients, retaining some of the parsley, with hand mixer.
Chill until firm; shape into a log and roll in parsley if desired.
Keep refrigerated until served.

PS. Now do a search on the site for Liver, just to check if you think they are a suitable food. Some say a firm yes, some no, but I personally don’t feel Babybear eats enough of this for it to be a problem.

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Oh god I’ve meant to post a spag blog recipe for aaaaages but I am a bad woman who never gets her backside in gear to do anything. Thank goodness for Carrie, I say.

You’ll see that she has her own tips for making the food less slippy, but here are mine. If you buy lean mince then you’ll find that you can cook it without breaking it up too much so that you can leave a couple of ‘meatballs’ in the sauce by the end and they’ll be easy to fish out and hand to the baby. I also add some celery, a carrot, a slice of smoked bacon or a couple of anchovies and a bay leaf to mine and I like to leave it on a simmer for hours if possible. But everyone’s got their own vibe with spaghetti, so do what you will.

“225g mince beef
Olive Oil
1 small onion finely chopped
1 fat clove of garlic
1 tin of tomatoes – plum not chopped
2 table spoons of tomato puree
4 table spoons of red wine
1 tea spoon of dried basil OR 1 table spoon of fresh basil
salt and black pepper (if you would like – we normally don’t add salt)

• Heat oil on thick based saucepan
• Gently soften the onion and garlic for 5 mins – do on a low to medium heat to stop garlic from burning
• Turn heat up and add minced beef and brown keeping the ingredients on the move with a wooden spoon
• When meat is browned add tomatoes, tomato puree, wine and basil, (salt) and black pepper to taste
• Put on lid and simmer gently for 20 mins
• Then take off the lid and simmer gently for a further 20-25 mins until you get a thick concentrated sauce

I put small portions of the ragu in ice cube holders (for purees), freeze and defrost them as and when and stir in with penne pasta and some fresh parmesan (makes it less slippy for Xavier’s little fingers.”

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Oh god I’ve meant to post a spag blog recipe for aaaaages but I am a bad woman who never gets her backside in gear to do anything. Thank goodness for Carrie, I say.

You’ll see that she has her own tips for making the food less slippy, but here are mine. If you buy lean mince then you’ll find that you can cook it without breaking it up too much so that you can leave a couple of ‘meatballs’ in the sauce by the end and they’ll be easy to fish out and hand to the baby. I also add some celery, a carrot, a slice of smoked bacon or a couple of anchovies and a bay leaf to mine and I like to leave it on a simmer for hours if possible. But everyone’s got their own vibe with spaghetti, so do what you will.

“225g mince beef
Olive Oil
1 small onion finely chopped
1 fat clove of garlic
1 tin of tomatoes – plum not chopped
2 table spoons of tomato puree
4 table spoons of red wine
1 tea spoon of dried basil OR 1 table spoon of fresh basil
salt and black pepper (if you would like – we normally don’t add salt)

• Heat oil on thick based saucepan
• Gently soften the onion and garlic for 5 mins – do on a low to medium heat to stop garlic from burning
• Turn heat up and add minced beef and brown keeping the ingredients on the move with a wooden spoon
• When meat is browned add tomatoes, tomato puree, wine and basil, (salt) and black pepper to taste
• Put on lid and simmer gently for 20 mins
• Then take off the lid and simmer gently for a further 20-25 mins until you get a thick concentrated sauce

I put small portions of the ragu in ice cube holders (for purees), freeze and defrost them as and when and stir in with penne pasta and some fresh parmesan (makes it less slippy for Xavier’s little fingers.”

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Again, I know this blog is coming across a bit pulsetastic but as it happens we do eat a lot of them. And you have to admit, these cheesy wedges do sound delicious.

“Another lentil recipe for you – v popular with LittleE (and her daddy too – surprisingly!!)

8 oz red lentils
3/4 pint water
1 large onion
1 oz butter
4 oz grated cheese
1 tsp mixed herbs
1 egg
1 oz breadcrumbs
salt & pepper – for adults!!

Cook the lentils in the water until soft, and all the liquid is absorbed
Chop the onion finely and fry in the butter until soft.
Combine all the ingredients and press into an oiled 9″ tin.
Bake at Gas 5 for around 30 minutes.
Allow to cool slightly then cut into wedges

These might be even tastier with a bit of garlic in?”

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Again, I know this blog is coming across a bit pulsetastic but as it happens we do eat a lot of them. And you have to admit, these cheesy wedges do sound delicious.

“Another lentil recipe for you – v popular with LittleE (and her daddy too – surprisingly!!)

8 oz red lentils
3/4 pint water
1 large onion
1 oz butter
4 oz grated cheese
1 tsp mixed herbs
1 egg
1 oz breadcrumbs
salt & pepper – for adults!!

Cook the lentils in the water until soft, and all the liquid is absorbed
Chop the onion finely and fry in the butter until soft.
Combine all the ingredients and press into an oiled 9″ tin.
Bake at Gas 5 for around 30 minutes.
Allow to cool slightly then cut into wedges

These might be even tastier with a bit of garlic in?”

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Oooooh, we love a pulse recipe on this blog, we do…

“I thought I’d send this recipe as minimoo has been devouring these beanburgers for a while.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 small chilli (I didn’t add this)
100g frozen chopped spinach, thawed (Didn’t have any frozen so I used half a bag of spinach)
400g can cannellini beans
50g breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander

Heat the oil and cook onion and garlic (and chilli if you’re brave) for 5 mins until softened. Meanwhile cook spinach in a pan with a little water if it’s not frozen. Squeeze excess moisture out of the spinach.

Mash beans well and mix with spinach, breadcrumbs, cumin and coriander. Add the onion mixture and stir well.

Think I got about 8-10 burgers from this. Minimoo loves them.”

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Oooooh, we love a pulse recipe on this blog, we do…

“I thought I’d send this recipe as minimoo has been devouring these beanburgers for a while.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 small chilli (I didn’t add this)
100g frozen chopped spinach, thawed (Didn’t have any frozen so I used half a bag of spinach)
400g can cannellini beans
50g breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander

Heat the oil and cook onion and garlic (and chilli if you’re brave) for 5 mins until softened. Meanwhile cook spinach in a pan with a little water if it’s not frozen. Squeeze excess moisture out of the spinach.

Mash beans well and mix with spinach, breadcrumbs, cumin and coriander. Add the onion mixture and stir well.

Think I got about 8-10 burgers from this. Minimoo loves them.”

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I need to update my pasta post (such is the social whirlygig of my life that these are the sorts of things I now worry about) as we’ve recently discovered that conchiglie are great for things like pasta, bacon and peas because if you give it a stir the veggies get stuck in the shell which makes a dinky little parcel of carbs, veggies and protein. Same for spag bol, which we rarely have with spag as both Babybear and her father find it irritating.

Lin’s daughter Small, as she tells us, actually sings to this recipe so that was all the recommendation I needed to hear…

“This is the first thing I gave Small that really excited her. She makes motorbike hands & croons to it.

1 onion
garlic
1 courgette
Fromage Frais
Pesto
Pasta

Finely chop the onion & soften it in some oil with the garlic. Meanwhile grate the courgette & squeeze all of the water out of it. Add the courgettes to the pan and let the whole thing mush down. Stir in some fromage frais (how much depends on how loose you want the mush to be) and some pesto (to baby’s taste – I started with a teaspoon and am gradually increasing quantities as Small seems to like it a bit stronger.) Serve with pasta.”

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I need to update my pasta post (such is the social whirlygig of my life that these are the sorts of things I now worry about) as we’ve recently discovered that conchiglie are great for things like pasta, bacon and peas because if you give it a stir the veggies get stuck in the shell which makes a dinky little parcel of carbs, veggies and protein. Same for spag bol, which we rarely have with spag as both Babybear and her father find it irritating.

Lin’s daughter Small, as she tells us, actually sings to this recipe so that was all the recommendation I needed to hear…

“This is the first thing I gave Small that really excited her. She makes motorbike hands & croons to it.

1 onion
garlic
1 courgette
Fromage Frais
Pesto
Pasta

Finely chop the onion & soften it in some oil with the garlic. Meanwhile grate the courgette & squeeze all of the water out of it. Add the courgettes to the pan and let the whole thing mush down. Stir in some fromage frais (how much depends on how loose you want the mush to be) and some pesto (to baby’s taste – I started with a teaspoon and am gradually increasing quantities as Small seems to like it a bit stronger.) Serve with pasta.”

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Now as far as I’m aware Melsy hasn’t yet tried this on her wee one, but she will soon. In the meantime I think it sounds amazing and am going to make it just as soon as I can get my mitts on some preserved lemons. I saw them in the supermarket the other day and rather wondered what to do with them, Couscous, of course, can be quite messy though so I tend to overcook Babybear’s to an inathentic clump.

1tsp oil
30g butter / marg
3lb chicken pieces (8) thighs &/or legs
2 onions grated
1tbsp garlic crushed
1tbsp ginger crushed
Pinch saffron
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp chili flakes (optional if not into heat)
1 pint chicken
season with pepper no salt
55g stoned olives
Handful of dried apricots chopped (optional)
1 preserved lemon sliced
1 tbsp honey – to balance sharpness of lemons

To serve ; couscous made with veg stock and cooked softened onions/ raisins & chopped parsley.

preheat oven 180/ gas mrk 4
heat oil & add butter brown chicken
remove with slotted spoon and lay in a tagine or thick casserole
add onions to pan and fry slow and low till soft
add garlic , ginger, honey , apricots & spices
cook for 2 mins
add stock and bring to boil
season and then pour this over the chicken in the casserole/ tagine
cover and cook for 1 hr
remove from oven add olives , preserved lemons and cook for a further 15-30 depending on how caramelised you like things.
Serve with couscous.

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