Ingredients

Olive oil, for cooking

2 large red onions, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

400g red lentils

800ml vegetable stock – plus extra boiling water to avoid sticking

6 skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

2-3 tablespoons madras curry paste (or use a milder one if you prefer)

300g baby spinach leaves

Sea salt and black pepper to taste (we don’t usually add additional salt)

Thick live probiotic yoghurt, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Heat a little olive oil in a pan, add the onions and garlic and cook for 4-5 minutes until softened.

2. Add the lentils and a little of the stock and simmer. Keep adding small amounts of stock bit by bit as the lentils cook and soften, as if you were cooking a risotto.

3. Once the lentils are starting to soften and break down, add the chicken and curry paste and stir well. Continue simmering and adding the stock until the chicken has cooked through. If the lentils start to stick to the pan at this point, just add a little extra boiling water to loosen it. We have found that we usually add at least 300ml extra boiling water as they do tend to stick quite a bit.

4. Add the baby spinach at the last minute, season with salt and pepper and stir until the spinach has wilted.

5. Serve immediately, with a dollop of yoghurt on top, if you like. Enjoy!

Edit: Want to make your own curry paste?

Little One absolutely loves this curry! We’ve been doing Baby Led Weaning with her since she was almost 6 months, and we must have tried this with her a couple of months in. We didn’t want to use a jar of curry paste with her because of the salt levels, so we made our own curry paste using a recipe from The Baby Led Weaning Cookbook. It’s so delicious! She loves naan bread too so we always serve this with naan and a little bit of rice, which helps to make this go further too.

This curry paste will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. You can either use ready ground spices or grind your own in a grinder (or use a pestle and mortar). We usually leave out the chilli at the moment, but you can make this as hot as you like!

1 fresh mild/medium chilli pepper, deseeded (optional)

5-6 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated

2cm (3/4″) piece of fresh ginger, grated

4 tbsp ground coriander seeds

4 tbsp ground cumin seeds

2 tbsp mustard seeds, crushed

1 tbsp chilli powder (optional)

1 tbsp turmeric

1 tbsp paprika (we use sweet smoked paprika)

Olive oil

Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add as much oil as you need to get the desired consistency.

Post updated 6th May 2017.

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This recipe originally comes from Delicious Magazine, and serves 4. It freezes really well too, so you could prepare it in advance, or eat half and freeze the other.

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil
1 large red onion
500g spinach
500g pack ready-made all-butter shortcrust pastry
2 large free-range eggs, beaten
300g (vegetarian) feta, crumbled
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
Beaten egg, for brushing

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan and gently fry the onion for 5 minutes until tender. Add the spinach and cook gently until wilted. Squeeze out any liquid and set aside.

2. Roll out the shortcrust pastry on a floured surface and use to line a 20cm round tin, leaving 2-3cm hanging over the edge.

3. Mix the spinach and onions with 2 beaten eggs, feta and 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill. Season well and spoon into the tart case.

4. Fold the excess pastry in towards the centre, brush with beaten egg and bake for 40-45 minutes until golden and set.

5. Serve hot or cold with some salad. Enjoy! :-)[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]I am text block. Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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I have always wanted to make gnocchi – it has been one of those things on my food bucket list for a long time now. It takes a little while but it well-worth the effort, and I’ll definitely do it again! But you can always just use the ready made gnocchi if you don’t have the time and this recipe will still taste just as good.

The gnocchi recipe I used here comes from Delia Smith (although there is a really good tutorial with great photos here). The squash recipe comes from BBC Good Food.

Ingredients

For the gnocchi
10 oz (275 g) King Edward potatoes (about 2 medium-sized potatoes)
3½ oz (95 g) plain flour, sifted, plus a little extra for rolling
1 large egg, lightly beaten
salt and freshly milled black pepper

For the squash
450g butternut squash, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp olive oil
500g pack gnocchi
200g young leaf spinach
100g goat’s cheese

Method

1. First place the potatoes, with their skins on, in a suitably sized saucepan, almost cover with boiling water, add some salt, then put a lid on and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until tender.

2. Then drain well and, holding them in your hand with a tea cloth, quickly pare off the skins using a potato peeler. Then place the potatoes in a large bowl and, using an electric hand whisk on a slow speed, start to break the potatoes up, then increase the speed and gradually whisk until smooth and fluffy. Now let them cool.

3. Next, add the sifted flour to the potatoes, along with half the beaten egg, season lightly and, using a fork, bring the mixture together. Then, using your hands, knead the mixture lightly to a soft dough – you may need to add a teaspoonful or so more of the egg if it is a little dry.

4. Transfer the mixture to a lightly floured surface, flour your hands and divide it into quarters. Now roll each quarter into a sausage shape approximately ½ inch (1 cm) in diameter, then cut it, on the diagonal, into 1 inch (2.5 cm) pieces, placing them on a tray or plate as they are cut (but don’t stack them as they will stick together!). Cover with clingfilm and chill for at least 30 minutes, but longer won’t matter.

5. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Tip the squash into a roasting tin with the garlic and oil, salt and pepper and mix well. Roast for 20 mins, shaking the pan halfway through, until tender and golden.

6. To cook the gnocchi, firstly bring a large, shallow pan of approximately 6 pints (3.5 litres) of water to a simmer. Then drop the gnocchi into the water and cook for about 3 minutes; they will start to float to the surface after about 2 minutes, but they need 3 altogether.

7. With a few seconds to go, throw in the spinach, then drain the gnocchi and spinach together. Tip into the roasting tin, then mix everything together well, mashing the softened garlic. Spoon onto warm serving plates, then crumble over the cheese to serve.

Enjoy!

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This is another recipe from ‘Mexican Food Made Simple‘ by Thomasina Miers, which has quickly become one of my favourite recipe books. You’ll need to make some roast tomato sauce for these enchiladas, which takes a little while but will be worth the effort! We altered the quantities to make this for two, but I’ve put the original quantities here. Again, I must apologise for the not-so-brilliant photo here – at least the clocks go back this weekend and nights will soon get lighter for taking good food photos!

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

1 quantity of roast tomato sauce (see link above)
200ml stock (we used vegetable stock)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Sea salt and black pepper
30g pine nuts
Olive oil
50g raisins
475g frozen spinach, defrosted and drained (we used a bag of fresh spinach)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
150g ricotta
6 corn tortillas
4-5 tablespoons sour cream
80g Cheddar cheese, grated

Method

1. Preheat the oven 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Heat up the tomato sauce with the stock and ground cinnamon and check the seasoning.

2. Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan and then set aside on a plate. In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add the raisins. Cook for 2 minutes until they plump up. Add the spinach, pine nuts, nutmeg, salt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and add the ricotta.

3. Spoon two tablespoonfuls of the spinach mixture onto the centre of each tortilla and roll. Cover the base of an ovenproof dish with a few spoonfuls of the tomato sauce and place the rolled tortillas on top, seam side down. Pour over the remaining tomato sauce.

4. Spoon the sour cream on top and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbling.

Enjoy!

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I often decided to make up a recipe when I have a particular ingredient that needs using up, and this recipe came out of one of those occasions. We had a little bit of goats cheese left and, after feeling uninspired following a quick internet search, I decided to get a few simple ingredients and go for it! You don’t need much of the goats cheese at all – if you don’t like really rich food then you could probably just leave it out. We used some salami Napoli here, which is optional too if you would prefer a meat version.

This recipe uses the creamy basil pesto recipe that I’ve already posted, so you’ll need to make a batch of that before cooking the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

Linguine (cook enough for 2-3 people)
Olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped into fairly small pieces (but not finely chopped)
A handful of cup mushrooms, quartered
8 slices of salami Napoli (optional)
Ground black pepper
100g baby leaf spinach
1 batch of creamy basil pesto (click on link above)
25-50g goats cheese to serve (optional)

Method

1. Add some boiling water to a pan and cook the linguine according to the packet instructions.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan, and add the onions. Cook until softened and beginning to brown before adding the mushrooms.

3. If adding the salami, tear each slice in half and add to the pan. Leave for a few minutes to cook.

4. Just before the pasta is ready, add the spinach to the onion and mushrooms, along with some ground black pepper. Allow the spinach to wilt a little.

5. Drain the pasta and stir the pesto through. Then add the vegetables and stir again. Plate up and then crumble a little goats cheese over the top, with a little more black pepper.

Enjoy!

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