Baked fish parcels make a fun weeknight meal. Super easy to prepare and by cooking it in baking paper it is harder to over cook and dry out the fish.
H was pretty excited to get a parcel for dinner. ‘oh that looks nice’ he said – he is my greatest fan…
If serving this to your kids in the bag, poke a hole in the back of the bag to let the steam out before serving – it’s vert hot!
You can use any type of fish but be sure to adjust the cooking time. My barramundi fillets where quite thick in the centre so if using a thin piece of fish, like snapper, cooking time could be as little as 10-12 minutes.
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2 x 200-300g Barramundi Fillets or a fish of your choosing
1 lemon; zest + slice lemon for serving
1 large tomatoes; sliced
Chives or your choice of herb
2 teaspoons of butter
Salt and pepper
Parsley to serve
Pre-heat oven to 200 C / 400 F. Cut off enough baking paper to completely wrap around the fish. Place fish on baking paper and pat dry. Season well and top with lemon zest and the sliced tomatoes, herbs and butter. Wrap the fish so it is sealed and bake for 20 minutes.
Serve topped with parsley and a slice of lemon.
If using a thin piece of fish adjust cooking time accordingly
Be careful when opening the bags as the steam is very hot. My little guy likes to open the bag himself, so I cut a whole in the back for the steam to escape and cool before serving to him.
1 1/4 cups rolled oats (see notes re: grinding oats before adding to mixture)
1/4 cup quinoa flakes
1 tbls chia seeds
1/3 cup raisins (or sultanas, currants, or any dried fruit)
2 ripe large bananas mashed (makes approximately 1 cup)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F)
Line a baking dish with grease proof paper
Combine all ingredients and add to baking dish. Using the back of a spoon even out the mixture.
Bake for 40 minutes or until golden. This produces a chewy bar in the centre. If you prefer a crunchy bar extend the cooking time
Depending on your child’s chewing ability add the dry oats to the blender or food processor before adding the the mixture for a finer consistencyTry adding spices like cinnamon, nutmeg or ginger. Seeds & nuts would also be greatIf you don’t have the a little enough baking dish just keep the mixture up one end. It won’t run
Will keep in the fridge for a couple of day or suitable to freeze
I promise it sounds more fancy than it truly is. I’ve kept it very simple and have experimented a little by replacing the sugar with maple syrup (a wholefood). For young babies you could leave out the sweetener all together and you have a simple baked custard.
You can also substitute the cows milk for almond milk or coconut milk or even stir through some melted chocolate before cooking – yum!
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1 2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoon maple syrup
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
1 vanilla bean , split lengthways and seeds scraped out (alternatively use vanilla bean paste)
Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees C (320 degrees F)
In a saucepan add the milk and vanilla bean (seeds and bean). Bring to the boil and turn off heat and allow to infuse for 15 minutes; discard bean
Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and maple syrup. Now pour the hot milk slowly over the egg mixture while you continue to whisk
Add mixture to 6 ramekins or small pots. Place pots in a baking dish and fill with hot water so it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins
Bake for 35 minutes or until set. The centre should still wobble slightly
Allow to cool slightly and refrigerate
I added a few raspberries to a couple of my pots before cooking
I’m sharing another H favourite with you today. Pappardelle bolognese with lot of hidden veggies.
The rich bolognese sauce will feed about 6 people or freeze what you don’t use for another time. I always have some in my freezer ready to go.
An important step when making this dish is to get a nice golden colour on your veggies before adding anything else. By doing this it adds a lot of flavour to your sauce.
Once your veggies have some colour, everything goes in and simmers away on the stove top for a couple of hours. You can of course eat it after about 30 minutes but leaving it a couple of hours will really develop the flavour.
Don’t want to freeze leftovers? Use leftover bolognese sauce the next day to make:
Individual shepard pot pies – top with sweet potato mash
Pie! – add a cup of frozen peas and top with puff pastry
Use bolognese to make nachos, tacos, or wrap it up in a burrito
Stuffed veggies like capsicums or tomatoes with bolognese
Add to your lasagna, ravioli or gnocchi
Bolognese on toast!
Print Pin Prep Time 10 minutes minutes Total Time 2 hours hours 10 minutes minutes
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 large carrots
2 large zucchini
2 stalks celery
1 onion
2 cloves garlic ,or use paste
1 large handful parsley ,chopped
1 cup red wine ,or use water
500 grams beef mince ,not super lean
700 ml tomato passata
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 bay leaves
2 large springs of thyme
2 strips lemon zest
pappardelle and parmesan to serve
Add oil to a large pot over high heat.Using a food processor, finely chop your carrots, zucchini, celery, and onion individually and add to the pot (alternatively grate or chop). Cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or until you have some colour on your veggies.
Once your veggies have some nice colour, add garlic and parsley and stir for one minute. Add wine and scrape the bottom of the pot to lift up any baked on bits. Reduce by half.
Add minced beef and cook until starting to brown. Add passata, tomato paste, bay leaves, thyme and 1 cup of water. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add more water as required.
Add lemon zest 30 minutes before removing from the heat.
Serve with pappardelle and garnish with parmesan. Freeze any leftover for 3 months.
If you don’t have a food processor, grate your veggies for them to be hidden from fussy children. Otherwise finely chop.
If you make my pappardelle Bolognese with lot of veggies, be sure to take a picture and upload to Instagram with the hashtag #littlebigh. I’d love to see your creation. xx
A quick Google search tells me they’re actually of French origin — but regardless, most Aussie kids grew up eating them, and they’re almost always on the menu when I visit Mum. Her rissoles are simple, made with just a few basic ingredients, but they’re full of flavour. You can easily make them your own by adding extra ingredients or spices if you like.
Now that I’m based in Florence and Mum’s a good 24-hour flight away, this was actually my first time making them myself. I know H loves them, and they’re perfect for batch cooking — I can freeze the extras for quick meals later on.
After I posted a pic on Instagram, I got loads of messages asking for the recipe — so here it is!
To make them: just mix the mince, grated carrot, egg, onion, herbs, sauce, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Shape into rissoles, coat them in flour, and cook in a medium pan until golden brown and cooked through — around 10 minutes. That’s it! Serve with gravy, mashed potatoes, and peas… or however you like.
Another of my mum’s recipes that feature on this blog are her salmon patties, another simple recipe that uses tin salmon and potato. I am yet to find tinned red salmon here in Italy so I haven’t made them recently but I’m sure cooked fresh salmon would also work.
Speaking of Italy I haven’t posted here in so long as we have been making the most of the summer vacation. We have been to some beautiful places in this most beautiful country. I have shared just a few favourites below.
Print Pin Prep Time 10 minutes minutes Cook Time 10 minutes minutes
500 grams beef mince (not too lean)
1 onion finely chopped
1 large carrot grated
1 egg
2 tsp dried mixed herbs (I also added fresh herbs but mum uses dried herbs only)
1 tbsp smokey bbq sauce (or you could use Worcestershire sauce, or even tomato)
plain flour to coat the rissoles
oil for frying
Add all ingredietnts to a large bowl (excluding the flour) and combine – your hands work best. Form into balls (whatever size you prefer) and then flatten a little with your hands.
Coat rissoles in flour. Add enough oil to a frying pan to coat the surface, cook over medium heat until cooked through. About 10 minutes.
Fattoria Di Maiano is only a short taxi ride from the city centre of Florence. There are beautiful grounds and a botanical garden, kids can feed the animals and there is a hillside full of olive trees where you can sit and have a picnic. There are also apartments if you wish to the stay.
The above pictures are from a wonderful few days in Cinque Terre. We stayed in Vernazza which is the prettiest and most perfect of the 5 villages for children. The last pic is of Monterosso and we hiked from Vernazza on ‘The Azure Trail’ to reach it. It is a 2 hour hike (3.5 km) around the mountain and it is well worth doing. The views are spectacular.
Another must see when you are in Tuscany is Sentierelsa in the Colle di Val d’Elsa area. The trail along the river is approx 4 km and it’s a very easy walk. The waterfalls and swimming spots feel like something from a fairy tail. It is one of the most stunning swimming spot I have seen. To reach the trail you will need a car and it is a 45 minute drive from the centre of Florence.
If you make my mum’s rissoles, be sure to take a picture and upload to Instagram with the hashtag #littlebigh. I’d love to see your creation. xx
Salads and toddlers aren’t two words that generally go well together! But, we love salads, and they are one of H’s favourite things to eat. The trick is to add ingredients that they love, and then sneak in the rest. This warm lentil, potato and corn salad has all of H’s favourite things. I have snuck in…
The countdown is on and I’m super excited this year. H and I were chatting about getting a photo with Santa the other day – or more accurately I was trying to convince him it was a good idea…
Me: What are you going to ask Santa for?
H: A drum and a flower
Me: Who are the flowers for?
H: Mummy.
My heart nearly burst – I have the sweetest boy….
H and I have already been getting into the Christmas spirit. We have made Christmas garland and decorations for our tree, a rosemary wreath for our door, Christmas cookies and these super cute pandan meringue christmas trees.
How gorgeous would they look on your Christmas day table!
The flavour of the pandan goes so well with the meringue. It really is very delicious and its naturally green!
Meringue is very easy to make with out a lot of ingredients. They can be made a couple of days in advance, just keep them in an airtight container until ready to serve.
Pandan paste is available from asian grocers and some supermarkets.
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4 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon pandan paste
*optional – icing sugar to resemble snow – sprinkled on top
Pre-heat oven to 100 degrees C (210 degrees F). Add the egg whites to a clean dry bowl. Whisk until soft peaks have formed. Slowly add the caster sugar and continue whisking for about 10 minutes or until the meringue looks super glossy and is no longer gritty from the sugar. Add vinegar and whisk to combine. Add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the pandan paste and fold through. You don’t want it too green!
Add a large star tip to your pipping bag. To create a swirl in the meringue, like you can in my pictures. Add a drop or two of the pandan paste to the inside of your pipping bag and then add the meringue.
Line a baking tray with baking paper. I pipped a circle and then a blob of meringue on top. To create a tree like shape I then pipped around the blob in an upward motion to create a tree like shape.
Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes for the meringue to be crispy on the outside and slightly chewy/marshmallow on the inside. If you like your meringue to be completely set and crispy you will need to bake them for an extra 30min to an hour. Allow to cool completely
Sprinkle lightly with icing sugar and serve
Makes 10 – 12 depending on how big you make them. I made mine about 6 cm (2 1/2 inches) wide.Make up to two days ahead and store in an airtight container.
The gold flecks you see on my trees are little edible stars. Used for decorating cupcakes.
Serve these gorgeous poached vanilla pears with my lavender custard from my previous post. It is sugar-free and perfect for babies from 6 months old. Simply mash the poached pear with a fork and mix it with the custard for a delicious dessert, snack or even breakfast. Enjoy xx Sugar Free Lavender Custard – recipe…
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Making custard at home is a really great option. You can be guaranteed that it is sugar-free and free of all other nasties – something I am very particular about when feeding my son. This is an easy custard recipe and baby will love it. Stir though a little pureed fruit for a natural sweeter…
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Summer Fruit Puree with mango, banana, passionfruit and peach. Simply added to a blender and pulsed til smooth. No cooking required. Baby will love it and so will you. The Stone Fruit Puree with Cinnamon and Star Anise is simmered on the stove top until tender so the spices can infuse the mixture. It is a…
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H trying Vegemite for the first time. He pulled a few funny faces and kept going! I try to give Little Big H a bit of variety for breakie but I do find myself making a version of the below recipes quite a bit. Most often he gets: Scrambled Eggs with Avocado, Bircher Muesli with Berries, Fruit Puree with…
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Big H loves this salad and it is super easy and quick to make. Shelling the broad beans is a little time-consuming but you could use frozen shelled broad bean instead if you like.
The sous vide cooks apricots amazingly well. They have a beautiful delicate velvety texture once cooked. You could also make this dish on the stove top if you don’t have a sous vide. The flavour will be the very similar but you will lose the velvety texture. Little Big H loves the tartness of this…
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I started making this dish for Little Big H at around 7 months. It contains eggs but I had given him eggs previously so I didn’t have to worry about any allergies. It makes around 6 x 120ml mini flans
I started Big H on vegetable puree firstly and then introduced fruit soon after. I stuck to the recommendation of introducing a single food at a time to be certain of no allergic reactions. Once he had tried most foods I started to make combinations there of. I held off giving meat until after 6 months for no specific reason other than it took a few months for Big H to really start enjoying solid food so we worked up to meat. I buy organic fresh produce to make baby food. See why here
In Australia it is now recommended to give babies all food types from 4 months. This includes meat, fish, eggs, nuts and other foods considered highly allergic. Please note that I am not a doctor or nutritionist, I am just sharing what worked for my son. Please consult your health professional if you have any food concerns or you have a history of allergies in your family.
Vegetable Puree Ideas
I steamed all vegetables and blend with cooking juices or boiled water until smooth.
Pumpkin & zucchini
Pumpkin, sweet potato & vanilla bean
Carrot & zucchini
Carrot & apple
Cauliflower & sweet potato
Green bean & Cauliflower
Sweet potato & kale
Zucchini, potato & pea
Broccoli, potato & corn
Broccoli, pear & pea
Spinach, carrot & apple
Asparagus, pumpkin & apple
Avocado and cucumber
Eggplant, corn & rainbow chard
Beetroot & potato
The possibilities are endless…
Fruits Puree Ideas
I stream most fruits (except avocado, banana, mango) and blend with cooking juices or boiled water until smooth. Try adding cinnamon or vanilla bean to the fruit purees for a bit of variety
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Print Pin Prep Time 10 minutes minutes Total Time 2 hours hours 10 minutes minutes
Print Pin Prep Time 10 minutes minutes Cook Time 10 minutes minutes
BRIGHTON BEACH, MELBOURNE
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