This stew is absolutely delicious, its really easy to make just chuck it in a pot and leave for a hour or so. The only hard part is chopping all the vegetable, you may want to enlist the help of a friend. You do need a fairly healthy spice cupboard but trust me these combine to make such a lovely fragrant flavour.  

 

The stew is made from chunks of vegetables so its perfect for eating with your baby lead weaning wonderstar.

 

I serve this with pitta bread and dollops of yoghurt, and also some chopped parsley if you are feeling real posh.

 

Ingredients

VEG

Chopped onion

2 garlic cloves – chopped

couple of sliced carrots

one sweet potato or butternut squash cut into chunks (or both if you have the biggest pot in the world)

one aubergine cut into chunks

1 green pepper cut into strips

couple of sliced courgette

2 large tomatoes chopped

 

SPICES

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cayenne

½ teaspoon paprika

 

add last  - 

1 can of kidney beans or butter beans

½ cup raisins

pinch saffron

 

Fry the onions in a large stew pot , add in all the spices and garlic and fry for a while, always stirring. Add the vegetables in the order above so that the starchier vegetables cook the longest. Sauté each vegetable so that its colour deepens before adding the next vegetable. Stir in the beans , saffron and the raisins. There should be liquid at the bottom of the pot from the vegetables but if the stew is too dry add some water or the liquid from the beans. Cover the pot and let it simmer until all the veg are tender.

I have been know to leave this on a really low heat while going out for the day – it creates an absolutely wonderful smell to return home to on a cold day.

 

It's hard to refine my mushroom risotto recipe for publication, really, as I have made it so often over the years that I just tend to fling in whatever I have in the house. Including frozen peas, which I appreciate would technically make it a pea risotto but let's not be picky.

For the three of us, but with plenty for second helpings and a bit left over for the next day to spread hot onto buttered french bread (o-ho yes...)

One medium onion

A couple of cloves of garlic

Butter and olive oil

Half a pack of Arborio or Carnaroli risotto rice, probably about 225g or so.

Home-made chicken stock, if you've got it. Roughly a litre to a litre and a half. If not, some Marigold reduced salt stuff or half of one of those no-salt Kallo cubes which I personally think taste disgusting. Or if you've got the heel of a piece of Parmesan floating around the fridge you can use that as a stock, that's what I often do, to be honest.

A good slug of white wine or Madeira (optional)

One tbsp porcini mushrooms soaked in warm water (also optional)

As many mushrooms as you can get your mitts on. I usually use at least one supermarket pack (if I haven't bought them elsewhere)  so that's probably about 250g but often I'm using up scabby old ones so loads more go in. Roughly chop into halves or quarters, so they are easier for the babies to pick up.

A good two tbsp of chopped up Parmesan cheese


Gently fry the chopped onion and garlic in a puddle of olive oil and butter. The butter is for flavour, if you leave it out you will notice I reckon. When the onion is clear, throw in the rice and keep it moving around the pan for a few minutes so it can soak up some oil. I use a wide-based pan for risotto. Put in the mushrooms, and fry them. If you think you need more oil or butter, chuck it in. If you have porcini, rinse them, drain them, shop them and fling them in as well at this stage.

Then spoon in some warmed-up chicken stock bit by bit, until it is all absorbed and the rice is sticky-slidy and cooked through and looks like little white pebbles. Well, that's what recipe books tell you to do. I tend to fling in about three-quarters of the stock or some water and a heel of cheese, along with the Parmesan, cook it for a while until the baby's portion is done. Can't really be doing with all the bit by bit business.

Then I take Babybear's out and whack up the heat, adding the rest of the liquid with the dissolved stock cube, wine, Madeira until it disappears. If this whole thing takes much longer than 20 minutes you are in trouble, as risotto should really be fast food, not taking much longer than the onions and rice to cook.

I put so much Parmesan into the rice that I don't need any more on top, just a grind or two of pepper finishes this off for me. We serve it with salad, or just by itself if we are feeling lazy. Babybear's, having cooled down, can be eaten from a spoon if I can be arsed loading it up, but I generally just give it to her on her tray and she grabs it with her hands, chewing the mushrooms for a while before spitting most of them out. (Honestly, though, try the bread thing the next day. Truly, Babybear thinks this is the best bit.)

...requires a breadmaker. Which would be fine chez nous, were it not for the fact we recently gave ours away because we just weren't using it enough. Typical.

I think the spinach and cheese topping sounds particulalry delish and may yet find myself experimenting using my old student standby - the tortilla wrap as pizza base.  That and 10p noodles kept me going through the lean years, let me tell you.

"Here's the recipe.  This makes two 11 inch pizzas, which Daniel (9 months),  me and DH all enjoyed.  And there's nearly half left still, so quantities could be reduced.

 

Dough

225 ml warm water

1 and a half tbsp oil

325g bread flour (I used white, but could do a 50/50 white/wholemeal mix) 2 tbsp sugar 1 tsp dried yeast

 

Topping (pizza 1)

Half a tube of tomato puree

Lots of grated cheese (I used cheddar)

Selection of your choice vegetables (I used 2 shallots - chopped and fried, 2 cherry tomatoes - skinned and sliced, broccoli - finely chopped, sweetcorn)

 

Topping (pizza 2)

A tub of cream cheese

6 cubes of frozen spinach (defrosted)

1 tsp fried shallot (taken from that prepared for pizza 1)

A pinch of mixed spice

Small amount of grated cheese

 

Put water and oil in breadmaker.  Cover with the flour.  Put sugar in one corner.  Make indentation in flour for yeast and make on dough setting. (Adapt this stage to do by hand, if you haven't got a breadmaker). Grease two 11inch circular pizza tins and preheat oven (220 deg for fan oven). Once dough is ready, divide in half between the 2 tins. Press to a flat round shape to fill tin (best to cover your hands in flour to avoid dough sticking to your fingers). Cover with oiled clingfilm for 15 mins.

Then do the toppings.

Pizza 1 - cover base with tomato puree nearly to edge.  Then distribute the veggies over.  Finally, top with loads of grated cheese.

Pizza 2 - cover base with cream cheese nearly to edge. Mix the spinach, shallot and spice together.  Spread the mixture over the cream cheese. Sprinkle a little grated cheese over the top.

Put the pizzas in the oven for about 15 minutes until golden and sizzling (probably a little longer if not a fan oven). Serve immediately for adults, but let it cool a bit for babies.  And cut babies' portions into pieces about 1-2 inches.  (I didn't give Daniel any of the crust, but it would be nice and chewy for teething)."

 

Personally, the only way I enjoy polenta is with as much parmesan cheese as it can support without falling apart. It will take years of trial and error on my part to find out exactly how much that is. Be careful as it starts to boil, to give you an idea of how dangerous polenta is just imagine you are cooking with lava straight off the slopes of Mt Etna and you won't go far wrong.


Polenta with Herbs

75g (3oz) polenta
Either 1 tsp of dried herbs, say, oregano or thyme, or a fistful of chopped fresh herbs, perhaps parsley or coriander? If using fresh rosemary or thyme, probably best to stick to the teaspoonful.
1 tbsp olive oil or butter.
A whacking amount of parmesan cheese, freshly grated, say about a fistful again. Or however much you like.
Cook the polenta according to packet instructions, and stir in the butter or olive oil and then the parmesan and herbs as it starts to thicken. Pour into an oiled baking tray and leave to cool, befor cutting into wedges and grilling or frying until golden on both sides. 
Post Script
We made some polenta the other night but I didn't have any parmesan in and the kind that I bought claimed to have vegetables in it already and therefore didn't need anything extra. Wrong. It really needed cheese.

Anyway, I made it, and in it's plain boiled form it was distinctly unimpressive. Likewise when I spread it out onto an oiled tray and grilled it. However, I left it overnight and cut it up and grilled the pieces and we had some more success. It had started, by this time, to look and taste oddly and not unpleasantly like French Toast. Babybear ate a really big piece of it, as did I, but mine was smothered under a layer of salt. Next time, cheese.

The reason I love these is that they are easy to make with very little faff, and the flavour of the harissa is warming without being too hot, so the baby can eat them too. I don't really know where the recipe came from, we just magicked it up out of our own heads one day, so those of you who have your own tried-and-tested burger recipes just keep doing what you're doing. I don't add breadcrumbs because I can't be bothered making them, likewise egg (actually the combination of raw egg and raw meat makes me feel a bit gruey) so I leave it out and just stick with the beef.

Here goes.


A pack of good-quality lean minced beef, you know, the normal size, whatever that is. Say 500g or so? That should give you four or five good-sized burgers.

One medium onion, finely, finely, finely chopped.

One clove of garlic, but not essential.

A good hunk of cheese, roughly grated. The amount depends how cheesy you want your burgers, how strong the cheese and how much you happen to have in the fridge. I have used half a normal-sized pack in my time.

A teaspoon or so of harissa. I prefer rose harissa, as it isn't so much of a paste, so that's what I use. You can get it in delis and in the Sainsbury's fancy-pants section. It's about £3 but it lasts for ages and a spoonful of it in a bowl of yoghurt or creme fraiche is lovely as a dip for tortilla chips or whatever if people swing by unexpectedly. With regards to the burger, the kind of harissa you buy in the tube would be fine too.

A spritz of olive oil for frying.



Gently, always gently, fry the onion and garlic in oil or butter in a frying pan. When it is transparent, remove from heat and leave to cool briefly while you mix the minced meat and the cheese and harissa, before adding the onions to the mixture. Really get your hands in about it and give it a good squidge.

Then roll into balls and flatten, to whatever size of burger you fancy, and then fry them to as cooked as you wish, roughly five minutes each side (but I like 'em a bit rarer, to be honest.) The cheese keeps them together and it goes crispy and oozes out of the burger as it cooks. We tend to have them in toasted pitta breads, so we make them roughly to fit, with sweet potato chips.

Smaller ones are lovely in mini pittas, and little children love making them and eating them in my experience. I often make double the amounts so I can freeze these between layers of greaseproof paper and then just defrost what I need.

Babybear feasted on a good lump of burger this evening, hence the recipe. I gave her a couple of well-cooked fist-sized bits and she was gorgeous with them. Bit some off and then sucked and slurped at it in a most ignoble manner. When it started to break up she jammed as much as she could into her mouth, so really very little was wasted. Especially when her father scooped up any leftovers and ate them himself, the good boy.

Not kidding. It's spot-on, if you think about it. A stew of baby-fist-sized meat and chunky veggies bound together by the unifying theme of gravy but each piece utterly recognisable and distinct from the other... it's absolutely ideal. Oh, and apparently the beer is fine so long as you boil the alcohol off. Huzzah, I love winter... bring on the cold weather food I say.



500g lean stewing beef, cubed
Butter
Olive oil
Large onion
Plain flour, not much more than a heaped tablespoon is necessary
Two carrots
6 or so new potatoes
Three-quarters of a pint of beer. If the beer is dark make it half a pint.
Water for adding extra liquid
Two bayleaves or a bouquet garni
Salt and pepper

It's really the Husband who is in charge of beef casseroles in our house (I make beautiful ones myself but he showed an aptitude when we first got together and I saw no reason to discourage him). He somewhat pompously insists that the secret to a good casserole comes from drying the meat with kitchen towel before dipping it in seasoned flower. He reckons, and I am inclined to believe him, that if the meat is wet it poaches briefly on contact with the oil and isn't as nice. You might want to leave out the seasoning as it's for the baby, but I know that he puts in only a couple of turns of the salt grinder and most of it gets left behind anyway.

So he takes 500g or so of meat (we get ours from the farmer's market, it's actually from Highland cows, the hairy ones with the horns. I was horrified when I realised but they taste soooo nice). He dries it, as mentioned, dips it in a wee bowl of salt and peppered flour and then drops it into some hot oil and butter in the pan. Say four or five cubes at a time, dependant on the size of your frying pan/casserole dish. Sometimes we cook a kilo of meat up and freeze half.

Once you've finished with that, leave your browned meat in a dish to the side and crack on with your onions and whatever else you fancy. There will probably be some flour stuck to the bottom of the pan but don't worry, it will come off during the course of the cooking and 'it's all flavour', as my Grandma used to say. Chop your large-ish onion, add some more oil (and a spot of butter for flavour) keep the heat down and slowly cook your onion. We find this takes about eight to ten minutes - it's a source of some confusion to me that recipes seem to suggest that onions cook in a flash. They do if you're burning them, I suppose.

We normally just have this with mushrooms in it but in deference to Babybear's new-found ability to eat solids we put in a couple of sliced carrots and a good handful of quartered new potatoes. Fry them off gently, then slowly pour over a  bottle of  beer, something like an 80 shilling, not too dark not too light and let cook for five minutes to take off the alcohol. Add a couple of bay leaves or a bouquet garni, then return the meat to the pan cover with  lid and cook at 325F/170C/Gas Mark 3 for 1 and a half hours, checking it every so often for sticking or extra liquid. Because of the potatoes we served this just with some petits pois, which are a story in themselves. We left her bits and pieces to cool and put them on Babybear's highchair tray while we ate our meal, and she really absolutely adored it. There were some leftovers which, of course, tasted even better the following day.