please help a veggie cook easy meat/fish meals for family

[Samvet]

Right - been veggie for over 20 years therefore no clue how to cook meat and even more fish.
Have 16 month old who is not veggie and hubby who is not. I want baby to have a varied diet to include meat and fish.
I have learnt how to cook easy meat like spag bol and cottage pie as mince is easy.
Fish I struggle as I have no idea (fish fingers only really!). Chicken ditto.
Please help me - do you have any recipes for idiot proof simple meat and fish meals for a toddler (and husband if he is lucky).

PS what the f do you do with other creatures like lamb? The whole thing makes me gag a little so no offal suggestions or I may vomit.

Are you happy to touch meat and fish?
Can you deal with bigger pieces of meat or do you prefer it to be minced or in small cubes/slices when bought?

does your husband cook? if so then why can't he do some at the weekend and freeze portions for dd?

you could then gradually learn from him?

How about a simple meat casserole?

You can buy the meat pre-cubed.
You don't need to brown it first.

Just put the meat in a slow cooker or a casserole pan.
Add some chopped vegetables - carrots, parsnips, onion, potatoes, etc
Add stock and seasoning
Leave to cook in the oven for 3 hours or so, or in a slow cooker for a few hours.
Nice and simple, and can serve on it's own, in a Yprkshire pudding or even with crusty bread.

Or a chilli?

Brown mince in a pan
Add some chopped onion/garlic
Add some chopped veggies such as peppers
Add 1 tsp of ground coriander, ground cumin and ground cinnamon
Add 3 or 4 crushed cardamon pods
Add a tin of mixed beans
Add a jar/carton of passatta
Add a good squeeze of sweet chilli sauce (less if little one is eating maybe)
Leave to simmer for 20 minutes

This recipe works great with quorn mince too.

Stuffed peppers: mince, grated veg (courgette, carrot) egg to bind, roast with tomato sauce; do one with feta for yourself
Tuna pasta bake
Marinade salmon in soy, ginger, garlic and chilli, bung in the oven till cooked through
Jamie's steak on rocket is always a winner
Chicken breasts wrapped in bacon
Calamari: buy prepared squid, dunnk in flour with salt and pepper, fry
Little poussin are easy to roast alongside some veg

I'd have a look at Nigel Slater, Jamie and Nigella for easy recipes

thanks so much. Husband a useless cook but is happy to cut stuff up for me. I don't mind handling it (can wear gloves!) the pre-cubed meat is easier. Thanks so much - babyloves pasta so tuna pasta bake great and I have a slow cooker.
Heymicky - the salmon - how long does it take to cook? Is that in a little overproof dish?
thanks so much all! My little one will be free from forever fish fingers and spag bol!!!

Salmon - 15-20 minutes in the oven (depends on thickness really), around 200C. Wrap in foil. Or you could do it in a pan on the hob - gives the outside a bit of a crispier finish which my DD likes.

Most fish is best down quickly and err on side of under cooking than over cooking, else it goes dry.

Tuna is very quick. Tuna steak takes about 1.5 minutes or so either side in a pan on the hob. Serve with sweet chilli sauce for a very easy option. Or maybe a little of a tomato based sauce using passatta. Fresh tuna is much nicer tasting than tinned tuna - almost a different taste entirely tbh.

Chicken is also easy, esp in strips. Must be cooked though, no risk of under cooking with chicken. I just do it in a pan on the hob, in strips (can buy already cut too) with some peppers and maybe courgettes, mushrooms, onions, aubergine, etc and serve with noodles and soy sauce.

I'm in exactly the same position. Veggie for 20 years, DH and two DCs are not and in the last year I've had to take over all cooking from DH due to changed circumstances.

I mostly stick to beef and lamb as undercooking isn't risky. Undercooking chicken and pork is, from what I understand.

Like you, I started with beef mince (cottage pie, mild chilli, mince and gravy). Have recently tried lamb mince for moussaka - needs some fat draining off after initially browning in pan, but otherwise similar to beef mince. I'm now moving on to things like lamb chops - these were surprisingly easy. Brush oil on each side and then cook 6-7 mins on each side in a griddle pan on top of the cooker. I've also cooked beef casserole (brown cubes of beef, add raw carrots, turnip, parsnip etc, add beef stock made from stock cube to cover meat and veg, stick in oven, time and oven temp on beef packet). Lots of the meat packs have the basic cooking instructions on the labels.

For fish, I've mostly done salmon, which both my DCs adore. As Hulababy says, it's easiest done in the oven. I brush foil with oil, put salmon on foil, season wrap into parcel and cook as says on pack. Recently tried cooking it on couscous with roast veg wrapped in baking parchment in oven using this recipe www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1583/herby-salmon-and-couscous-parcels. Used coriander and garlic couscous, went down well. There are loads of recipes, eg on BBC Good Food site, for variations on oven cooking salmon.

Can also coat strips of white fish or fillets of plaice in seasoned flour and fry. Need a good non-stick pan for this one.

We also have good-quality sausages in various forms - with mash, in casseroles. And bacon in pasta carbonara - cook pasta, fry bacon and chop into pieces, fry finely chopped onions and mushrooms, add hot pasta, bacon and cream to frying pan with mushrooms, cook for a minute or two on low heat, turn heat off, add an egg and stir through hot food until a cooked but not too scrambled.

Hope this helps.

The only people who are 'useless cooks' are people who haven't learned to cook. Time for your husband to learn.