Charlie's Favourite...Chicken Balls

These chicken balls by Annabel Karmel are a fantastic finger food and delicious.  A little fiddly to make but they keep well in the freezer so you one batch will last a while.

The recipe says to fry the balls in shallow oil, I actually tried baking half of them the last time to see if that would work and not dry them out too much.  The baked balls are just as good as the fried ones and I would bake all of them next time.  I baked them at 180 degrees for about 13-15mins.

I also used wholemeal bread for the breadcrumbs - just tore up 2 pieces and let it become finely chopped in the food processor.

Chicken and Apple Balls by Annabel Karmel, New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner
2 tsp light olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
2 large chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1/2 tbsp fresh thyme or sage, chopped, or a pinch of mixed dry herbs
1 chicken stock cube, crumbled (from 1 year)
50g fresh white breadcrumbs
salt and pepper (from 1 year)
plain flour for coating
vegetable oil for frying

Heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté half the onion for about 3 minutes.
Using your hands, squeeze out a little excess liquid from the grated apple.
Mix the apple with the chicken, cooked and remaining raw onion, herbs, stock cube (from 1 year) and breadcrumbs and roughly chop in a food processor for a few seconds.
Season with a little salt and pepper (from 1 year).
With your hands, form into about 20 little balls, roll in flour and fry in shallow oil for about 5 mins until lightly golden and cooked through.

Makes 20 chicken balls.

Baked chicken balls

Frying process - I don't use a huge amount of oil

Fried chicken balls

Baked - I'll bake them all next time

Charlie's favourite...Frittata

I kept hearing how babies love frittata as finger food but it has taken me until now to finally make one for Charlie.  He loved it.  I threw this together very quickly with the vegetables I had in the fridge.  You could use any vegetables you have available - fresh or frozen.

My very simple recipe (give or take a few rough measurements) -

4 eggs (as that's all I had)
A good slug of full cream milk
2 potatoes, chopped into fingers (easy for small fingers to hold)
1 sweet potato, chopped into small squares
1/2 cup Cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Crack eggs into a bowl, whisk them.
Add the milk.
Pour mixture into a lined square tin or dish.
Sprinkle vegetables evenly over the top and spread them out before topping with cheese.
Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes until golden on top - keep an eye on it.

This recipe is derived from the frittata recipe on another blog - http://retromummy.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/easiest-frittata-for-kids.html

The photo below is of the second one I made yesterday with potato, peas and broccoli.  Literally the only veggies I had available.  Charlie seems to like it...

Beef in Red Wine

A great new recipe from Mum that I made last week for a dinner party.  It was delicious and exactly the sort of meal you crave on a freezing night.  I started on Thursday as the meat needed time to marinate.  Mine marinated in the fridge overnight and I slow cooked it on Friday, so all ready for dinner on Saturday.

It's a rich stew, packed with flavour.  I served ours on mashed potato, with a rocket and parmesan salad, some yummy peas in mint and parsley, plus some crunchy bread.

I ended up buying about 1.8kg of chuck steak as I was feeding 6 big eaters and wanted to be sure I had enough.  I also asked the butcher to cut them into larger size chunks (not small cubes as per the recipe), as Mum had suggested it's better for serving and looks nicer on plates to have a couple of larger pieces. Was pleased I did this.  I slowed cooked it for a little longer, about 2.5 - 3 hours.

As I was making it ahead of time, once I added the shallots, bacon, mushrooms etc to the pot, I stirred everything together but did not cook it for the extra 20 minutes.  I popped it in the fridge ready for Saturday and finished off the cooking then just before serving.  I cooked it for 1 hour at 160 degrees and then served it out.

I would definitely make it again, it's a great dish.

1.5kg chuck steak, trimmed and cut into small cubes
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
500ml / 2 cups red wine
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
200g French shallots, peeled
150g bacon, rind removed, cut into batons
250g button mushrooms, trimmed
3 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley

Put the steak, garlic, onion, celery and wine in a large non-metallic bowl, mix together, cover and leave in the fridge to marinate for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight.
Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Tip the beef, the marinade and the tomatoes into a large ovenproof dish, cover and cook in the oven for 2 hours.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until golden.
Add the bacon and mushrooms and cook for a further 3-4 minutes until the bacon is crisp.
Mix the cornflour with enough cold water to form a smooth paste.
Add the shallots, bacon and mushrooms to the casserole with the cornflour mixture and stir together very well.
Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes, season with salt and pepper and stir through the parsley.
If you like the sauce to be thicker, uncover the dish and cook it on the stove top at a high simmer for 5 minutes to reduce the liquid.
Serve with some creamy mashed potatoes.
Serves 6.

Not a great photo....!