With
this cooking holiday in the beautiful and relaxing Dordogne
region of South West France you will learn to cook like
a pro . . . experience the finest of wines, great food
and the traditional markets as you take your culinary
skills to the next level.
Like
most busy mothers, Sian
Blunos wanted to feed her baby well,
but as a trained chef, working alongside her
Michelin-starred chef husband, she didn’t have
a lot of free time. This is one of the recipes
she has created and published in her book entitled
Cooking for Coco
- to find out more have a look at the articler
under Interesting Bites <click
here>
"Babies
tend to like both parsnips and sweet potatoes
as they contain a lot of natural sugars so they
make ideal first foods. Sweet potatoes have
a much higher concentration of vitamins, minerals
and antioxidants than normal potatoes".
Ingredients
1
ounce butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 small clove garlic, peeled and chopped
2 sweet potatoes (approximately 1 pound),
washed and cut into small dice
1 large parsnip (approximately 10 ounces),
washed and cut into dice
1/2 cup red lentils, washed in cold water
and drained
1 tablespoon tomato purée
10 - 12 ounces water or unsalted vegetable
stock
Method
In
a saucepan, melt the butter and oil over a
medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and
fry gently for about 2 minutes, until the
onions are soft. Add all the other ingredients
apart from the water or vegetable stock and
fry for another 2 minutes.
Pour
enough water or stock into the saucepan to
cover the vegetable mixture and bring to the
boil. Simmer for 25 minutes over a medium
heat, stirring occasionally. Add more water
or stock if necessary.
Remove
the pan from the heat and strain the vegetable
mixture over a bowl. Reserve the liquid. Blend
the vegetable mixture in a processor or blender.
Add a little of the reserved liquid to correct
the texture if necessary.
Leave
on the side to cool. Divide into portions
and serve or freeze.
Technique
Tip:
With
most of these recipes you can use a food processor
or blender to produce a puréed mixture. However,
if you are using potatoes, you should add them
as small dice just before serving. If they are
blended, the starch they contain causes them
to break down into a gluey mess.
As
your baby grows and has more teeth, you can
mash or chop the food instead. The textures
will encourage your baby to chew. You will be
the best judge of when you can start to do this.
