CHILDREN'S food writer Annabel Karmel knows only too well the trials and tribulations of getting children to eat a healthy and varied diet.
The battle of wills at mealtimes prompted Annabel to develop a variety of tempting meals for babies and toddlers which she turned into a recipe book. Here's a couple of recipe to try from the New Baby and Toddler Cookbook:BROCCOLI LASAGNE
Serves five. Suitable for children from one year.
6 lasagne sheets
a little salt
5ml vegetable oil
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
20g butter or margarine
3 large beef tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
100g broccoli, cut into small florets
300ml cheese sauce
12g cheddar or Gruyere cheese, grated
Cook the lasagne as directed on the packet. Saute the onion in butter until softened. add the tomatoes and continue to simmer until they turn mushy.
While the tomatoes are cooking, blanch the broccoli in boiling salted water (not more than two minutes as it will be cooked again in the oven). Stir the broccoli into the cheese sauce.
To assemble the lasagne, put a thin layer of tomato sauce over the base of a 15cm square ovenproof dish, and cover with two sheets of lasagne.
Spread half of the cheese and broccoli sauce over the pasta, cover with two more sheets of lasagne, and top with the remaining tomato sauce. Finish off with the last two sheets of lasgane, the rest of the cheese sauce and sprinkle over the grated cheese.
Bake in an oven preheated to 180c/350f/gas 4 for 20 minutes.
SAUCY COD
Serves three. From eight months.
1/2 onion, chopped
30g butter
15ml vegetable oil
1 courgette, sliced
300g tomatoes, skinned, seeded and cut into chunks
15ml tomato puree
225g fillet of cod, haddock, or hake, skinned
a squeeze of lemon juice
Saute the onion in 15g of the butter and the oil until softened. Add the courgette, tomato and tomato puree and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, put the fish into an ovenproof dish, dot with tiny knobs of butter, sprinkle with lemon juice, and season lightly. Bake in the oven until cooked through and the flesh flakes easily. Puree the vegetables in a mouli to make a smooth sauce. Flake the fish, making sure there are no bones, pour sauce over and serve with mashed potatoes.
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