Salmon and broad bean cup-quiches.

Salmon and broad bean cup-quiches.

Life in the kitchen changes after babies enter the home, but it need not be for ther worse. Homemade purees can bring great joy as you watch your baby master the art of eating, but there’s no doubt that life in the kitchen gets a lot more interesting once 'junior' can start eating a little more like the rest of the family.

Busy parents need not fuss over making 3 separate meals for the baby, the toddler and themselves. There are recipes that with a little imagination, and not too much effort, can work for all.

Kids will love shelling the broad beans

This is one of those; it uses some of the most wonderful new arrivals of the season; broad beans, full of vitamin B5 and C, combined with the omega 3 fatty acids of salmon. Young children will love helping you shell the broad beans, and the combination of  pea-green with delicate salmon-pink are a feast for the eyes as well as the palate…But what’s best of all, is that they are a cinch to make.

I use colourful, silicon cupcake pans to make these; it adds a punch of toddler appeal by making them look like little cupcakes. They’re cute and portable, and therefore great to take on a picnic, or you can pop two on a plate with salad, and serve with a glass of crisp white wine as a light spring-time lunch for another busy parent!

Makes 10.

220g frozen broad beans (or 650g if using fresh, in pods)

4 eggs

200g cream

200g salmon

1 onion

2 tbsp olive oil

Parmigiano regiano

Method.

Preheat oven to 170.

Fry the onion in oil until soft, then add the salmon and as it cooks break it up into generous flakes, stirring till it’s cooked through.

Meanwhile, blanch the broad-beans by dropping them into boiling water and simmering for about 3 minutes. Drain the beans and plunge into cold water to stop them cooking any further, drain again and then shell them, by piercing the skin and squeezing the luscious, bright-green bean from its ghostly shell.

the salmon and bean mix is delicious stirred thorugh pasta.

Mix the beans in with salmon.*

Beat the eggs then mix in the cream. You will note that I have not added seasoning. If you want, at this point you can separate half the mix, and add salt and pepper to the adult portions.

Spoon the salmon and bean mix into the cupcake patty pans, filling to just under rim. Pour in cream and egg mix. Sprinkle each with parmesan, put in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.

After removing, leave the cup-quiches for about 10 minutes, to set and cool slightly before serving. They are also lovely eaten cold; although if you have kept them in the fridge let them stand for a while to bring to room temperature.

* Tip. This bean and salmon mix is quite delicious on crostini, or mixed through pasta. So if you like you can split it here, keep half for the adults to be stirred through some parpadelle later, and make only 5 quiche-cakes for the kids. If I do this I add some salt and pepper to season the adult pasta portion.

Also, smaller, babies (over 6 months) can also be catered for at this point if you take out a small portion and mush it up.