Fish for toddlers??

[Monkeytrousers]

Another one by me
DS (3.5) has been veggie since birth but I am thinking of introducing fish into his diet. Any advice on recipes?

plain salmon with a squirt of lemon juice

my dds love fish

they also like fish pie and fish cakes

my kids love making their own fishfingers - just cut some white fish into finger sized pieces (I use coley as it's cheap and tastes good) then get yourself a little production line going:
1 dish with some flour in
I dish with some beaten egg in
1 dish with crushed rice crispies and grated parmesan
It helps to keep one hand for the wet stuff and one hand for the dry stuff if that makes sense.
The just bake in the oven (about 180) for 10 minutes

the coley or cod steaks you buy in frozen packs are handy as you can microwave them quickly and very low chance of bones. I made up loads of ice cubes of creamy white sauce to top them off with and make them a bit more fancy. I have also been known to use the sauce on fish fingers

Also make a up a huge fish pie (I use the annabel karmel one) as it can be portioned off and frozen. But be warned if you are veggie its truly grim chopping up the fish fillets and checking for bones.

I am veggie so not really that great with meat / fish dishes for DS and have to make it easy for myself.

Fish Pie is usually a hit, especially if you use a mixture of sweet potato and white potato for the topping, the slight sweetness of this is popular with toddlers!

DS has always liked fish with pasta, and you can make a really easy tinned tuna or salmon in white sauce to serve with pasta.

Lots of toddlers seem to have a taste for smoked salmon too, so you could try that occasionally too?

jamie olivers fish pie
alwasy a hit with my 5 and 3 year old
salmon and brocolli with pasta and creme fraiche

I am always paranoid about bones, no matter how carefully I pick through it. Any tips on this?

When ds was tiny, I gave him some fish pie which had been very very carefully picked through. I decided to have a little taste first and discovered huge bone.

Have been terrified ever since

tuna 'balls' with pasta and tomato sauce

Just bake or microwave some lemon sole and serve with veg and potatoes. DD (2.2) loves this.

ta everyone

any advice for fizz re bones?

yes - always buy monkfish! Hugely expensive but guaranteed to be no bones - there's just one big backbone and nothing else

I ask the fishmonger to remove them.

Monkfish is a bit tricky to cook though isn't it. It seems to go from undercooked to rubbery in the blink of an eye!

Frozen spinach - blast in microwave and drain. Place spinach in bottom of ovenproof dish. Place boneless fillets of salmon or white fish (any) on top of spinach. Cover with cheese sauce (melt 1oz butter stir in 1.5 tbsp plain flour, gradually add half a pint of semi skimmed milk and a big handful of grated strong cheddarand once thick) pour over fish. Grate more strong cheddar on top and some chopped basil or pasley and bake for 20 mins in a moderately hot oven.

My children love this recipe and it's brilliant with rice or potatoes and some green veg. I make a big one for all six of us an then 3 or 4 tiny portions for emergency child meals for the freezer.

I like it best with cod loin - throw some prawns on too (before the cheese sauce) if you think he might like them.

Easy peasy tea: pasta, tin of mackerel fillets, frozen peas, creme fraiche.

Cook pasta and peas. Drain. Stir in the rest. Serve.

Grated cheese on top if they are cheese-lovers.

Also works with smoked mackerel fillets, but makes it saltier.

Fizz - talk to your fishmonger about bones. They'll remove them (as otherside said), but they can also show you how to find them and how to remove them, so that if you buy fish from elsewhere you can do it yourself.

the best way to find bones in fish is to get them out BEFORE you cook it.
Just run your fingertips down the surface of the fish (both ways) and then use tweezers when you find them. You can also use a knife and your thumb but tweezers is easier.

Sardine fish cakes - cold mash, sweetcorn, chopped cooked carrots, tin sardines in tom sauce - mush up, shape and grill/bake/fry

Thai fishcakes - white fish, lemongrass, tiny bit of red chilli, spring onions, liquidise, shape grill/bake/fry

fishcakes (salmon, tuna)

we do a fish stew, onions, potato, loads of garlic tinned toms, stock (or leave that our for more stewy thing) herbs, a bit of tomato ketchup or sugar to take the tinny taste out of toms and splash of cream at the end makes a big difference. It always goes down well. Put the fish in right at the end so it doesn't get overcooked. We do a bit of a mix coley/pollack/cod plus a bit of salmon and sometimes prawns.

homemade fishfingers, just dip in egg and coat with breadcrumbs and do mushy peas, just use ordinary frozen peas and blend them.

fish and chips from the chippy!

all of the above are good ideas, also my DS loves prawns (he copies his dad I think who adores them)

I give the fish a thorough finger-tip search to check for bones, not a problem if you are chopping it up for fish pie.