My cooking lately has been dominated by what I can make that the little one can enjoy too. I am also one for batch cooking to make the middle of week dinners a bit easier.
Finished articleServed with sweetcornfor the little one
Lasagne is a great dish to freeze as it can be portioned easily. I usually make it with more beef stock (usually use Bovril) and seasoning, including a dash of Worcestershire sauce in the beef but this time I have only used 1 beef stock for making 2 large trays of lasagne, so negligible really. As a consequence, the beef filling will not be as dark as you would normally expect and will be redder from the tomatoes. The first step of sauteeing the onions and garlic is crucial to allow caramelisation which gives a lot of the flavour. Browning the beef is also very important here. The beef browning process also evaporates some of the water that is in the beef as you don’t want the resulting beef mixture to be too wet.
A simple bit of pureeing to your desired consistency will be perfect for your little one. It certainly went down well in our household!
Hi all! This is my first post as contributor, thanks for the invitation 🙂
A little about me: I’m an experimental cook that likes to try different cuisines & flavours using whatever I find in my cupboard, and often like to bring in flavours from East & South Asian recipes in particular for the taste of home. I also like to get inspired by British classics which I grew up with, which brings me to today’s dish – a simple yet delish ‘Cottage’ Pie.
Traditionally with beef, I didn’t have any at home, so went for a flexitarian version, where the main ingredient is lentils – the only non-vegetarian ingredient I used was Bovril beef stock, which for the full veggie experience, can be substituted with Marmite, both for flavour & colour.
Great cut of meat for a roast if you are hosting family and friends in Spring or just want a lot of leftovers! Don’t be intimidated by haunch of lamb leg, it’s actually very easy to cook with – you just have to allow the extra time in the oven compared to eg. a rolled joint of lamb because of the thigh bone. If you have a deboned leg then it won’t need as long in the oven so adjust your cooking time appropriately.
I made this recently for Mothering Sunday and the feedback (although somewhat biased of course!) was very positive. As per all my recipes, I try and use as few pans as possible to minimise the washing up and this is a one roasting tray recipe that also makes its own gravy! The water that you add to the roasting tray actually creates steam within the oven making sure the leg remains as succulent as ever.
Prepped leg before going into the ovenLamb after the initial heat blast before water is added
Like all roasts, one of the most important steps is to allow time at the end for the meat to rest before you carve it. The meat continues cooking and the moisture is redistributed throughout resulting in moist meat. So it’s the same for this lamb.
Whilst the lamb is resting on a pre-heated tray tucked up under foil, you can finish off your gravy and the other trimmings to go with your roast. The usual trimmings will do – crispy roasted potatoes, veggies etc. as the lamb itself is already quite flavourful.
Oxtail stew fit for your baby! And you can have some too!
Oxtail stew with added veg for the little oneOxtail stew for youOxtail stew blended with cous cous for the little ones
Oxtail is probably not the most obvious thing to feed your little one. It is meltingly tender when stewed and full of collagen. Typical oxtail stew recipes use wine and stock in the cooking liquid which is the way I have always been cooking it. But I had some oxtail the other day and really wanted to share it with the little 👶 so I modified how I usually cooked oxtail but still making sure that it remains rich and tasty for us! Because oxtail is mainly bones, it creates its own stock when cooked so there really isn’t any need to add a stock cube which is, of course, high in salt.
Whilst adding a good red wine to your stewing liquid gives the stew another dimension, to be honest, I’d be more than happy to go without it in the recipe in the future. Except for the glass or two to go with the stew of course!
This recipe does take a long time to cook and the longer you cook it, the more tender the meat gets. So if you are able to plan ahead and cook it the day before as suggested, I would highly recommend it. Otherwise, if you are cooking on the day, give oxtail more time to stew if you can before eating. The cooking time in the oven can be extended as you prefer, just keep an eye on the stewing liquid although it shouldn’t dry out too much if you are using a heavy bottomed pot with a lid.
Using the approach of the trio of ‘humble beginnings‘ (aka mirepoix, holy trinity, soffrito, battuto, etc – a really good article explaining what these are at seriouseats.com) of garlic, onions and celery, the ‘beginnings’ of the stew flavours were set without the need for any salt at all.
Browning the oxtails first caramelises the meat, again adding an extra layer of flavour to the stewing liquid.
Browned oxtail ready to be used
Not to be too blasé about it, but the rest of the recipe is just about chucking all the rest of the ingredients into the cooking pot and let it stew. So it is actually quite an easy recipe. The vegetables you add to your stew can be any combination you like. A very versatile recipe.
Add all ingredients into the pot ready to bring to the boilAfter boiling and stewing in the oven‘Stewed’ overnightReheated ready to be servedServed with cous cous and green beans. Meat falls away from the bones
I served it with cous cous this time but you can serve it with rice, bread etc. anything that can soak/mop up the rich sauce. With no wine, no salt and lots of vegetables, it’s a perfect recipe to diversify your little ones’ taste adventure. There were certainly no leftovers from either the boss 👶 or the other minion 👨!
Where has the time gone? I can’t believe it is already mid January 2022. Coronavirus has persisted another year and realistically likely to hang around for another couple more but it’s now all about how we can live with it safely and get vaccination to everyone around the world.
2021 was a very busy year for us hence the hiatus. ‘Bun’ 🍞 in the oven, navigating the unchartered territory of a little one 👶 and a new home 🏡.
Cooking since having the little one is mainly based on what’s the easiest and quickest to make and what can be eaten with one hand! With every month of his development, there has finally been times when I could steal a moment or two to cook slightly more complex dishes like I used to. Although it is a ‘half an eye on the hob, half an eye/ear on the baby monitor/next cry’. It’s going to be a lot more adventurous when he starts crawling around!
The exciting thing is though that we have just embarked on the weaning journey so I am looking forward to some food introductions for the mini gourmand-in-training!
As my time is now spread a lot thinner, it only makes sense to bring in a co-author with their own delicious input – more on that to follow…
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