Recipe for babies of all ages

This is really easy to make, really delicious, and the little ones loved it!

Ingredients:
1 really fresh trout, gutted, washed and patted dry (eyes clear & shiny not sunken & cloudy, it shouldn’t smell “fishy”)
Fresh whitecap or portobello mushrooms (fresh mushrooms feel firm and quite heavy)
1/2 Courgette or a whole one if they are small (when just picked a courgette will make a cracking sound when you slice it, it then becomes less firm until it’s spongy, I’ll settle for a courgette that’s nice and firm, this will instantly produce tiny droplets on the flesh “bleed” when you slice it)
1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, oil (I used grape seed oil this time), butter, cream, lemon, farfalle pasta, salt & pepper.

You will need a good non stick pan large enough for your whole fish (oven proof if possible), a couple of offset spatulas suitable for the non stick pan (you don’t want to scratch it with metal utensils) and a deep pot for the pasta, I inaugurated my new ceramic coated pan for this and I thought it was very good for the price.

Fill a deep pot with water (1-2 inches from the top) cover and put it on to boil, and preheat the oven to 120*C

To begin with finely chop your onion and begin to sweat it on low heat with a little oil, you will benefit a lot if your knife is really sharp as less juice will vaporise and make your eyes water, a properly sharpened knife will make hardly any noise when slicing through the veg, clean your mushroom removing the stem (unless they are so fresh that the stem is completely pure white in colour when sliced lengthwise I wouldn’t use the stem even on closed cup mushrooms) and dice, before adding the mushrooms crank the heat up under your pan and let it get really hot keeping the onion moving so it doesn’t burn or they will just lose their water content and boil instead of frying, quarter the courgette lengthwise and slice it about 1-2mm thick, add to the pan and sautée it (or stir it) briefly so it is lightly cooked before setting aside.

(Note in the photo how my pan is not “crowded”, if you put too much in the pan it will not be able to keep it’s heat and things will not cook properly)

Measure out 200-250g of your farfalle pasta (dry butterfly pasta) and plunge in the boiling water without putting the lid back on, stir every so often so it doesn’t stick to the bottom, I’ll overcook it a bit on purpose so it is more digestible for the babies but still decent food for the adults. Drain and set aside.

In the meantime back in the same pan, on a medium-high heat place your whole trout with a little oil, and fry for a few minutes until lightly browned, carefully turn it over using the spatulas, fry for a minute and add some chilled butter before transferring to the preheated oven to rest for 8-10 minutes while the pasta cooks.

Your fish should be just done and not overcooked use a knife and fork to trace the seam running down the spine (you can see the line running down the side of the fish but if in doubt lift a little of the skin to find it if you’re not familiar with this fish) and gently push the top and bottom fillets on the same side of the fish (by top and bottom I mean the sections above and below the line clearly visible in the photo above) apart bit by bit all the way down from head to tail, they should come off the bone easily enough but still have the sheen and light translucency that perfectly cooked fish has, now lift the tail a little and with the knife cut the skin close to the tail so the fillets are released, the whole skeleton should come away in one piece.

As I prepared this meal for my 14month old daughters to eat with me I spent time making sure all bones were removed, the bottom fillet (where the chest cavity was) is the easiest to clean, you can clearly see the lines where the bones are or were, and also running your fingers along what was the center of the fish from tail end up to the head you will feel any rib bones that you might have missed, DON’T FORGET the fin bones, one near the head and one near the center of the belly fillets on the skin side (not visible in photos). As far as the top fillet goes there are bones in the half closest to the head that you can’t see or feel with your fingers or indeed when you eat the fish… BUT just to be safe save it for the adults and not the kids, the half from the tail is boneless but make sure the dorsal fin bones are all removed.

PLEASE NOTE THAT SO FAR NO SALT HAS BEEN USED ANYWHERE AND THE SKIN HAS NOT BEEN REMOVED there’s lots of nutrients under the skin and it’s delicious to eat.

Back in the pan add the boneless fish to the vegetables and the pasta that has by now cooked and drained, add a splash of cream an heat through stirring or sautéing to coat all the pasta and thicken slightly but not too much it will thicken more as it cools and you don’t want it to become dry, add a squeeze of lemon juice to taste, a good grind of black pepper, and a TINY pinch of salt…

Serve the babies/kids portions first so they have time to cool down, to the grownup’s portions add the rest of the fish and season to taste, remember that if you’re trying to make your diet healthier you may as well not add too much salt.

They say an image is worth a thousand words… I hope you try this recipe and let your kids and yourself enjoy some good fish!! Bon appetite!