So butternut squash. Yuck. I'm not a great consumer of vegetables, but I hope P will feel differently. However, she has recently been rejecting most vegetables, but thankfully girl still adores her fruit. One exception to the veggie hatred has been butternut squash, which I guess some could argue is a fruit, I don't know. P loves her butternut squash, despite her mother's views that it is quite possibly a demon veggie/fruit which will eventually lead to the downfall of man.
Behold, butternut squash risotto, courtesy of Annabel Karmel's "Superfoods for Babies and Children", as usual, the link to which can be found to your left.
50g (2 oz) onion, chopped
25g (1 oz) butter
100g (4 oz) basmati rice
150g (5 oz) chopped, peeled, butternut squash
450 ml (1pint) boiling water
3 ripe tomatoes (approx. 225g/8oz) skinned, de-seeded and chopped
50g (2 oz) cheddar cheese, grated
Saute the onion in half the butter until softened. Stir in the rice until well coated. Pour over the biling water, cover and cook for 8 minutes over a high heat. Stir in the chopped butternut squash, reduce the heat and cook, covered, for about 12 minutes or until the water has been absorbed.
Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in a small pan, add the chopped tomatoes and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the cheese until melted. 
Combine!
Any rice will do really, though basmati is one of the healthier options. The rice used in the risotto in the photos is basmati and wild rice. Pearl barley is another excellent substitute, and something worth keeping in your cupboard anyway. Mine is packed with various pulses, grains and the like, and they are often interchangeable. A post on pulses & co is forthcoming. How exciting for you all.As usual, you can prepare this in varying textures to accommodate your baby. P has it nice and chunky, and aside from picking the bits out of her mouth to examine before swallowing (as Mum is clearly trying to poison her), she gets on well with it.
Next time I think I might throw some first stage baby purees out there for you, as I know a couple readers of my primary blog have some babies new to the solids game. I wouldn't want these children to wallow in jarred food just because Mush has failed them, now would I?
4 comments:
Mmm...I love butternut squash with an unreasonable passion, so am tempted to make this just for myself. So for a younger baby, would you just puree the finished dish?
Huh. And where, pray tell, would you have come across that wild rice on your side of the pond? And may I please get a what what?
Electriclady: I would just puree it, though you should bear in mind that the rice might make the pureed version rather thick. In that case, just add a bit of water, or perhaps some of baby's normal milk (breast/formula/etc). Hopefully it will still be as yummy.
Molly: I'm afraid it was not the wild rice provided by your fine self. It was actually packaged basmati and wild rice duo. Sorry to wreck your hopes and dreams like that.
Oh, but I love butternut squash and had a whole garden full of it over the summer. Smoothe and simply divine!
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