New take on an old favourite: mini pesto fish pies

Fish pie is one of my ultimate comfort foods. I very rarely deviate from my favourite combination of cod, smoked haddock and salmon with plenty of parsley sauce and a fluffy mashed potato topping. Occasionally a few leeks will make it into the pie and, rarer still, a layer of spinach. 

My son is similarly fond of this thoroughly British classic and I usually make and freeze mini portions in large ramekins for him. As Winter eases into Spring, I can't help but feel that making fish pie is a bit labour intensive and perhaps more suited to the cooler months. This speedy version is much more in keeping with the season and a doddle to make. You don't need to pre-cook the fish or make a white sauce - you simply assemble a few ingredients, make a bit of mashed potato and pop the pie/s in the oven. The 'sauce' is simply a mixture of crème fraîche and pesto and gives a distinctly Spring-like feel to comforting dish. I have yet to discover a toddler who doesn't like pesto so wasn't surprised that it went down well with mine. I loved this too and would certainly make it for the whole family if it weren't for Mr LBG's strange aversion to pesto.

The idea for this dish came from the latest issue of 'Feel Good Food' magazine - one of my favourites. Their recipe is for a full-sized pie and contains hard boiled eggs and peas but I decided to make mini pies for my son and adapted the recipe slightly (no eggs, extra 'hidden' vegetables, a different mix of fish and full fat dairy). The recipe is very flexible - you could use any mix of fish (though I'd probably leave out smoked fish as I'm not sure it would go well with the pesto), add prawns, add softened leeks or blanched florets of broccoli according to taste.

My son has a fairly hearty appetite and my Le Creuset mini cocotte dishes are bigger than most ramekins and so I made four pies but you could easily make 5 pies using slightly smaller ramekins. Apologies for the rather rushed photos - my son has little appreciation for the art of food photography and was distinctly unimpressed by having to wait for his lunch. He was most vocal about the situation so I had to dish up in haste!

Mini pesto fish pies

Adapted from 'Feel Good Food' Spring 2014

Makes 4-5 mini pies (dependent on size of ramekins/containers)

For the mash:

500g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

4 tbsp milk

Knob of butter

200ml crème fraîche

4 tsp fresh pesto

400g mixed fish, cut into small chunks (I used salmon, cod and haddock)

4 tbsp frozen peas

small handful spinach, very finely chopped

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C. Make the mash; peel and chop the potatoes and boil or steam until soft. Mash with milk and butter and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mix 4 tbsp of the crème fraîche with the pesto. Add the chunks of fish, frozen peas and spinach. Stir gently to combine.

3. Divide the fish mixture between four or five large ramekins or mini pie dishes. Ensure you scrape out all the sauce! Add the remaining crème fraîche to the mashed potatoes and use to top each of the pies.

4. At this point, you could freeze the pies to cook another day. Alternatively, bake for approx 25 minutes.

Toddler teatime: salmon and pea frittata

Years ago my mother (or was it Father Christmas?) gave me a very small frying pan. At the time, I cooked on gas and was unable to make the flame small enough to go underneath this miniature pan. It languished at the back of the cupboard unloved and unused. Since moving to the sticks and waving goodbye to modern comforts like gas, it has finally found great favour in my kitchen for all sorts of small jobs. It is the perfect size for a fried egg. Ideal for toasting a few nuts to sprinkle over a salad. Just right for sizzling a few cocktail sausages for my son. It is also the ideal pan for an individual frittata or Spanish omelette for my boy.

Thank goodness for eggs. When time is short, five 'o clock has been and gone and my son is getting fractious, there is nothing quite so useful an egg. In the time it takes for bread to toast, I can scramble an egg and tea is on the table in an instant. I am so relieved that he likes eggs (for the moment - we all know how fickle toddlers can be). If I have leftover potatoes in the fridge, I sometimes make a smidge more effort and turn his teatime egg into a frittata. Add a few vegetables and perhaps a sprinkling of cheese on the top and a balanced meal is yours in moments. On this occasion, I had some cold leftover salmon in the fridge too so I added this along with some peas and a new teatime favourite was born. 

Making this with leftovers makes for a super speedy meal but it wouldn't take long to boil up a couple of baby potatoes and poach a few small cubes of salmon in water before adding to the pan. I made an individual portion for my son in my mini frying pan but scale up the quantities to make one larger frittata for the whole family.  

Salmon and pea frittata

Serves one toddler

Ingredients:

Knob of butter

2 baby potatoes, cooked al dente

1/4 spring onion, very finely chopped (or a few snipped chives)

1/4 fillet of cooked salmon

1 tbsp peas

1 egg

Optional: a small grating of cheese, if you like a browner top

1. Pre-heat the grill.

2. Melt a small knob of butter in a mini frying pan (if you have one!) and add the potatoes, fry for a few minutes along with the spring onion.

3. Flake the salmon and add to the pan, along with the peas. Whisk the egg with a fork and pour over the mixture in the pan. Cook gently for a few minutes until the egg is nearly set, sprinkle with a little cheese if desired and then transfer to the grill to cook the top (cover the handle of the pan in foil if it is not ovenproof).

Veggies in disguise: a useful sauce and speedy pizza muffins

I am in the lucky position that my son is a 'good eater'. He will try anything and everything and generally approaches most foods with great gusto. I am regularly astonished by how much he eats! He is, however, also a toddler. This means that he is prone to moments of inexplicable rage if the proposed meal isn't quite to his liking. A couple of days ago I dared to serve him yoghurt rather than fruit after his beef casserole. Big mistake (cue sudden screaming, leg kicking and general melodrama). In the end, he ate both fruit and yoghurt. Yesterday he was horrified when I suggested he might like a banana (after I had peeled it, of course) but was happy to wolf it down once I had mashed it up. One day, scrambled egg is the best food in the world; another day it is greeted with disdain. 

Vegetables are hit and miss, as with many youngsters. Carrots, peas, red cabbage and broad beans are currently in favour. Broccoli, mushrooms and parsnips are not (strange as these were all favourites when weaning). I always try to include extra vegetables in any dish that I cook for him in order to get as much goodness into him as possible. You could call it deception. I call it 'what normal mothers do'. One of the most useful things I have in my freezer at any time is a box of frozen cubes of homemade tomato and basil sauce. This sauce is packed full of 'hidden' vegetables and is handy for creating all kinds of delicious dishes. My boy will eat almost anything if accompanied by/covered in/spread with this sauce. I vary the hidden vegetables according to what I find in the veg drawer but it usually includes a carrot, celery and onion base. I usually add courgette and red, orange or yellow pepper. Sometimes a mushroom or two. After slow simmering and the addition of something creamy (mascarpone, cream cheese or crème fraîche) to temper the acidity of the tomatoes, I blitz the sauce with a hand blender and all suspicious-looking lumps disappear into a delicious and smooth sauce. 

I freeze the sauce in an ice cube tray or two before popping the cubes out into a re-sealable freezer bag. I them simply defrost the number of cubes required. Ideas for using the sauce are as follows:

- a simple pasta sauce topped with a sprinkling of grated cheese

- a healthier ketchup substitute - great for dipping strips of chicken, fish fingers etc...

- stirred into roasted vegetables with chicken and couscous

- add tinned tuna for a tuna pasta sauce

- spoon over cod and bake in the oven

- the base for hidden vegetable pizzas (as below)

Pizza with 'hidden' courgettes, red peppers, celery and carrots

Here is my recipe for this indispensable sauce, along with a simple serving idea. Mini muffin pizzas are a great speedy teatime dish for babies and children of all ages. Cut into tiny wedges, this could be a good idea for baby-led-weaners as well as a great finger food for traditionally-weaned babies. The idea came from Annabel Karmel. She goes further and decorates the pizzas with smiley faces - this would be fun for older children to try themselves. I first gave these to my son when he was approximately 9 months old. If you wanted to be super-healthy, you should choose wholemeal muffins. 

Very useful tomato and basil sauce

Makes 4 adult portions

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, diced

1 stick celery, thinly sliced

1/2 red, orange or yellow pepper, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 small courgette, grated

400g tin tomatoes (keep the tin)

1/2 low salt vegetable or chicken stock cube (optional)

handful basil, roughly torn

2 tbsp mascarpone, cream cheese or crème fraîche

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Sweat the onion, carrot, celery and pepper until starting to soften.

2. Add garlic and cook for a minute. Add the grated courgette and stir together. Add the tomatoes and fill the tin halfway with water (or stock, if you prefer). Add half the basil and season with a little pepper. Simmer gently for 20 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining basil and mascarpone/cream cheese. Leave to cool for a little while before blending to a smooth sauce using a hand-held blender or liquidiser.

Pizza muffins

Adapted from Annabel Karmel

Makes 2 mini pizzas

Ingredients:

1 split English muffin

4 tbsp useful tomato and basil sauce (see above)

Grated cheese of choice, or torn mozzarella

1. Toast the muffins.

2. Spread with a layer of the sauce and top with cheese.

3. Grill until golden and bubbling.

4. Cut into small wedges and serve.

I had been planning to enter this to this month's Family Foodies blogging challenge at Bangers and Mash. The theme was 'Hidden Goodies' but unfortunately I have been a little disorganised and missed the deadline. If you are interested in cunning ways to sneak fruit and vegetables into your little foodies, then do take a look at the brilliant collection of recipes that were submitted on time!

A treat for tiny tastebuds: Moroccan lamb

Moroccan lamb tagine - a treat for tiny tastebuds

I have never really understood the notion that young children prefer bland food. It is often assumed that when cooking for babies or toddlers, you hold back on the garlic, spices and herbs. I know that I am lucky that my boy is a 'good eater' (so far) but I think that it is important to introduce children to as wide a variety of flavours as possible in their first few years of life. How dull to have the same things over and over again! There are plenty of the usual staples on my toddler's menu (cottage pie, pasta with tomato sauce, fish pie, chicken casserole) but I do try to inject as much variety as possible and make a habit of regularly trying new recipes for him. From mild fruity curries to fish chowders via barbecue pulled pork and basil-heavy pesto: I love watching him discover new flavours for the first time. For the record, so far grapefruit and spinach are the only two flavours that have had a resolute thumbs down.

Where practical, he eats the same things as us but, as we generally eat at different times (not ideal, but hey ho), this is not always do-able. I also like to have good stash of homemade 'ready meals' stashed away in the freezer for him so tend to do a lot of batch cooking.  At the weekend, we indulged in a fantastic lamb curry and there we had some lamb left over. Rather than cook up the usual casserole (Master Greedy is a huge fan of all slow cooked meat and vegetable combinations), I decided to inject a little Moroccan flavour into his diet. I slightly toned down the spices of my favourite lamb tagine and simmered the meat with tomatoes, carrots and dried fruit. The combination of sweet spices and a touch of honey was a winning one which he wolfed down.

I made the classic error of starting the cooking without actually checking to see that I had the relevant ingredients. I do this fairly often - you'd think that I would have learnt by now. Normally I use tinned tomatoes for a tagine and these would be fine if you can't be bothered with all the peeling and chopping. I also had to use sultanas rather than dried apricots as I didn't appear to have any. Master Greedy didn't mind but I think I would prefer apricots myself. Dates would be an alternative too.

He tried that tagine alongside plain couscous and yes, I did sprinkle a little fresh coriander on top. You may laugh (I almost laughed at myself) but I do think that we all eat with our eyes as much as our tummies. If the flash of green made the dish look more appealing to me, then perhaps it would to him too. Besides, fresh coriander is so delicious. 

This is a great dish for toddlers but also for babies once protein is well established. The sweet flavour will appeal to their palates and you can simply purée to the desired consistency. Honey should be avoided for the first 12 months so just leave this out or perhaps use a little maple syrup instead. You could also add extra sweet vegetables such as sweet potato or butternut squash.

(Incidentally, I find couscous to be a great standby for a hungry toddler when waiting for rice to cook simply isn't going to happen.)

Moroccan Lamb

Makes 4 toddler portions

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely diced

1 carrot, finely diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

250g leg or shoulder of lamb, diced into small pieces

4-5 large tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed and chopped* (mine were small - I used 8) or 200g tinned tomtsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp ginger

small pinch saffron, soaked in 1tbsp warm water

1 tsp runny honey (omit for under-1s)

1 tbsp tomato purée

6 dried apricots, quartered (or use dates or sultanas)

4-5 large tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed and chopped* (mine were small - I used 8) or 200g tinned tomatoes

500 ml low-salt lamb stock or water 

Couscous and fresh coriander to serve

*To peel tomatoes, score a cross on bottom of each tomato with sharp knife, pour over boiling water and leave for 5 minutes. The skins will peel off easily.

1. Pre-heat oven to 170C.

2. Heat oil in a small casserole and brown the lamb. Set to one side.

3. Add a touch more oil if necessary and sweat the onion and carrot together until starting to soften at the edges. Add the crushed garlic and cook gently for a minute.

4. Add the dry spices and stir to coat onion mixture. Next add the saffron along with the soaking liquid, tomato purée, honey and apricots. Return lamb to the pan. Cook for a minute or so, stirring to coat.

5. Finally add the tomatoes and stock. Bring to a gently simmer and transfer to oven. Cook for 1.5-2 hours or until the meat is very tender. Check after an hour and add a little more water if it is drying out.

6. Serve with couscous and a sprinkling of fresh coriander!

My proustian moment: simple rock cakes

A taste of childhood - the humble rock cake

Food can so often evoke powerful memories. Whether it be the aroma of freshly ground coffee, the sensation of biting into a soft, ripe peach or the taste of a homely apple crumble; what, when and where we eat food can transport us to another time or place in a moment.

The French author Marcel Proust was famously moved to reflect upon his childhood memories when taking a small bite from a madeleine. The madeleine is a pretty, delicate French cake, baked in a special mould. It is indeed a lovely treat but Proust can keep his madeleines. The treat which takes me on a nostalgic journey to my former years is slightly less elegant. In fact, elegance is nowhere to be seen. It is not even desirable here! You see, I have an inordinate fondness for the humble rock cake.

Rock cakes are craggy, ugly little cakes but beneath their rugged exterior, they are actually rather delicious. A rock cake is probably one of the first things that I baked and, as they are very forgiving, they are ideal for a kitchen project with small children on a rainy afternoon. 

We have had builders working on our house for the past week and, in need of some comfort amidst the chaos, I decided to take a jaunt down memory lane and recreate the cakes of my childhood. As I stirred the mixture together, I recalled helping my mother (and grandmother) make these treats standing on a stool in order to reach the mixing bowl and then dolloping the blobs of mixture onto the baking tray.

A rock cake is part cake, part scone. The exterior should be slightly crusty and crunchy with sugar and the interior delicately spiced, generously fruited and have a fairly robust texture (you are not aiming for 'light and airy' here!). You can choose dried fruit and spice to suit but I favour currants and mixed peel only as this is how I remember them from my childhood. Other plausible additions include dried cranberries, chopped glace cherries, lemon or orange zest. The cakes are at their best when eaten warm from the oven or on the day of baking but you can store in an airtight tin for a couple of days. Warming them for a few minutes in the oven does revive them somewhat!

My son gets very little sugar in his diet but I have to admit that I couldn't resist giving him a rock cake to sample. No surprise that he absolutely loved it and I look forward to making these with him when he is a little older.

Rock Cakes

Makes approx 9

Ingredients

200g self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

75g demerara sugar, plus extra for dusting

100g butter, diced

1 egg, beaten

2-3 tbsp milk

100g currants

50g mixed peel

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C and butter or line a couple of baking trays (I use reusable silicone sheets).

2. In a food processor, whizz together the butter with the flour, baking powder and mixed spice until it resembles fine crumbs and tip into a mixing bowl. Alternatively, rub the butter into the flour mixture by hand. Stir in the sugar and fruit.

3. Mix in the egg and just enough milk to make a thick, firm and sticky dough. Try not to over mix.

4. Dollop heaped tablespoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking sheet, leaving room between each one as they will spread a little. Do not worry about shape - they should be rustic-looking! Sprinkle the top of each with demerara sugar.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

I am entering my rock cakes into the Tea Time Treats Challenge hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked.  Karen is hosting this month's challenge and has chosen the theme of dried fruit - a great way to use up some of the fruits left over from making Christmas cakes and puddings. There is already a most fantastic list of entries and I am looking forward to browsing through and getting inspired. Being greedy, we love teatime in this household and always feel slightly bereft when the cake tin in empty!

Speedy toddler lunch: roast chicken quesadillas

When we moved house a few years ago, we were delighted to be leaving behind the freezing and falling apart mess that was our rented home for the year that we spent making sure that a 'move to the country' was indeed for us. We were excited about our new home but very sad to be leaving behind the ancient, solid-fuel fired Aga that we had come to love. We were both new to Aga cooking and, after a few disasters, soon learnt to love its versatility. Our favourite Aga treat was the fabled 'Aga toastie'. For those not lucky enough to have been acquainted with the culinary sensation that is the 'Aga toastie', it is essentially a toasted cheese sandwich. It is better though. I cannot explain why really. It just is.

To make an Aga toastie, you simply make a cheese sandwich according to your tastes (Cheddar and onion marmalade for me please). Grab some of that clever silicon baking sheet stuff and pop it on the hot plate. Pop your sandwich on top and lower the lid over the whole thing. Moments later, open the lid and flip the sandwich over and repeat. In just a couple of minutes flat, you have the fluffiest, toastiest toastie you have ever eaten. No need for butter on the outside so you could almost argue it is healthy.... Well, perhaps not. Maybe just 'less bad for you'.

Anyway, no more Aga toasties for us. Instead, we have discovered the joy of the quesadilla. Almost as speedy (you have to preheat the pan rather than having the instant heat of the Aga, but needs must!), and equally versatile and tasty. We all love them and I found them to be an instant hit with my son which is handy as I am always in need of a speedy lunch that can be whipped up in moments after a hectic morning of singing, clapping and waving at Jo Jingles. Yes, my life really is that glamorous!

My son could eat little mini-wedges of these at around 10 months but they would probably suit baby-led-weaners earlier than this.

Being a creature of habit, I like the cheese and onion marmalade or chutney combination best. Sometimes I throw in a slice of two of ham for added excitement. But you can fill your quesadilla with almost anything, though cheese is a fairly essential element (queso meaning cheese, after all). For my son, I sometimes do cheese and grated apple or tuna, sweetcorn and cheese (think 'tuna melt'). Today I used shredded leftover roast chicken, chopped tomatoes and Cheddar. Mushrooms and onions work well if they are fried off a little to soften before adding to the filling. My husband likes a few jalapenos for the authentic Mexican kick. The fillings really are as diverse as your imagination. Vary the cheese according to the fillings - I once tried an Italian perversion of this Mexican snack with pesto, grated courgette, tomatoes and mozzarella. It worked a treat!

Here is how to make one...

Quesadilla

Serves 1

1 flour tortilla

Fillings of choice (e.g. shredded chicken, tuna, ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, spring onions, pesto with grated courgette and mozzarella etc...)

Handful grated cheese - Cheddar, Gruyere, Mozzarella (match the style of cheese to your filling)

1. Take a griddle pan or even a large non-stick frying pan and set it on the hob to heat up to a medium heat.

2. Lay your tortilla on a chopping board and add your fillings to one side of the tortilla only. Sprinkle with the cheese. Fold the 'empty' half of the tortilla over the fillings (don't overfill) so that you have a semi-circle.

3. Fry the filled tortilla in the dry pan on a medium heat for a minute or so on one side before flipping over and cooking the other side. You are aiming for a nice crisp tortilla and melty cheese goodness on the inside. Watch closely as they do burn easily!

Vegetable fritters - speedy teatime idea for babies and toddlers

No. My son did not appreciate the parsley garnish!

Some days it feels as though all I do is prepare meals! My 15-month old son is on a slightly different mealtime schedule to us due to fitting in naps and his bedtime which often occurs before my husband gets in from work (we relish a 'grown-up' meal together in the evenings!). Much as I love to cook, preparing two different lunches and two different evening meals can leave little time for getting out and about. Where possible, I try to cook meals that are suitable for us all and just heat up a portion for my son the next day. I also like to keep the freezer full of speedy meals and snacks that are perfect for when time is short.

These very tasty fritters freeze really well and can be cooked directly from frozen in just ten minutes. They also take merely five minutes to make and are ideal for those days when you I open the fridge and realise all you I have is an egg and a couple of bendy carrots! They are a great way to disguise any vegetables that little ones usually reject and are easy for little hands to eat - they would make a great dish for younger babies following the baby led weaning approach. For my son, these are a great tea-time meal in themselves. He loves them and we have tried various vegetable combinations - sweetcorn and courgette being his favourite. The fritters also make a good light lunch or brunch for adults served with a poached egg and/or a slice of bacon.

Vegetable Fritters

Inspired by this recipe from Annabel Karmel

Makes approx. 8-10 small fritters

30g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 large egg

1-2 tbsp milk

170g mixed vegetables* (sweetcorn, peas, courgette, carrot, spring onion)

Olive oil for frying

Pinch of salt (optional and for 12 months+ only)

*Vegetables such as carrot or courgette should be grated and squeezed in a tea-towel to get rid of excess liquid. Sweetcorn is great in these, either alone or mixed with grated courgette.

1. Place the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and combine. Make a slight well and crack the egg into the well. Mix together with a touch of milk until you have a thick but smooth batter. 

2. Stir in the vegetables.

3. Heat oil in a frying pan. Take heaped teaspoons of the batter and drop into the pan, pushing down with back of the spoon to create a rough circular shape. Cook for 1-2 minutes until golden and then flip over and cook for 1-2 minutes on the other side. Once golden and slightly crisp on the outside, they are ready. Cook in batches.

4. To freeze, simple wrap the cooled fritters in foil in portion sizes (my son will eat around 4 of these but he is very greedy!). When ready to eat, place on a baking tray in oven at 180C for 8-10 minutes.

TECHNICAL QUESTION!!
If anyone reading this can help, I would be enormously helpful. The background template for my blog does not appear correctly on mobile devices such as iPads. This makes my blog look rather ugly unless viewed on a desktop/laptop. I have no idea how to fix this as I am very un-techy. Can anyone shed any light?! Please?! I would be hugely grateful for any advice.

Autumnal Beef Casserole

It was hard to pick the 'first' recipe for the new blog. I felt it should be something super exciting and fancy.

So I chose a stew.

Or rather, a casserole. There is a difference, you know.

The point of this blog is to write about the food I cook for my (greedy) family. Not to pretend that an ordinary day sees me whipping up a quick batch of macarons in between taking my son to his swimming class and collecting the dog from the vet.

Yesterday was an ordinary day and I made this casserole. And so here it is!

I am a huge fan of batch cooking. I am always happy when I know my freezer if full of homemade 'ready meals'. There is nothing better at the end of an exhausting day when you don't feel like spending hours in the kitchen than knowing you can still eat something utterly delicious. If it wasn't for my freezer stash, my little boy might well live on a diet of mini Babybels and rice cakes. A couple of times a week, I made a big batch of something-or-other and freeze in small toddler-sized pots ready to whip out for his meals. This was one such dish although it is delicious for all the family and I rather wished I had made enough for us too (I usually make casseroles big enough for us all but I only had a relatively small amount of meat on this occasion).

You could use any combination of vegetables for this seasonal dish. I just used what I had to hand but any roots or squashes would work well. Using parsnips and/or vegetables such as butternut squash make this an appealing dish for babies and toddlers due to the natural sweetness. This could be pureed for small babies (over 6 months) or chopped for those a little older. My son is 14 months and managed well with a little chopping.

*A note on stock:

Babies under one year of age should eat very little salt indeed. Stock cubes are generally high in salt. I choose to use very low-salt stock cubes (Kallo) and sometimes just use half a cube when cooking for my son. If you prefer to avoid salt altogether, you can simply substitute stock with water when cooking for babies. Be sure to flavour with plenty of herbs instead!

Autumnal Beef Casserole

Serves 2 adults and 1 child or 4 toddler portions

1tbsp olive oil

350g braising steak, cubed

1 onion

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 carrot

1 medium parsnip

100g swede

100g squash (e.g. butternut)

1 tbsp plain flour

500ml low-salt beef stock, or water*

Bay leaf

1 tsp dried thyme

1. Pre-heat oven to 170C. 

2. Finely chop the onion and chop all the other vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

3. Heat the oil in a medium casserole and brown the meat in batches. Set aside whilst you start the vegetables.

3. Add a touch more oil if necessary. Sweat for five minutes until translucent but not golden. Add the other vegetables and cook gently for a further five minutes, adding the garlic right at the end and cooking for just a minute or so.

4. Return the meat to the pan and sprinkle over the flour. If cooking for adults only, season well with salt and pepper (omit salt for babies under 1 year and go easy for toddlers too). Give a good stir to combine and then pour over the stock or water. Add a bay leaf and the thyme and then cook in the oven for two hours or so until meltingly tender. Check after an hour and a half and add a little more water if it looks as though it is drying out!

5. Enjoy as it is or chop for toddlers/puree for babies over 6 months.