Toddler Friendly Fish Pasta Bake

A great way to get fussy eaters to broaden their tastes. If this is the first time the child has had fish and shellfish then substitute the prawns for more cod or salmon so that if there's any alergic reaction you know which food caused it!

Ingredients

  • 568ml whole milk
  • 8 black peppercorns
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 200g cooked prawns
  • 240g salmon fillets, skins removed and cut into bite sized pieces
  • 220g skinless cod fillets, cut into bite sized pieces
  • 40g plain flour
  • 40g butter
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed or very finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp onion salt (or if you're feeling fancy, add finely chopped onions to the peppercorns and bay leaf when steeping the milk)
  • 1 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
  • 250g tublar pasta, such as macaroni or rigatoni
  • 100g finely grated cheddar cheese, split into two piles
  • 50g breadcrumbs
  • 15g finely chopped parsley

Method

  1. Place the milk, peppercorns and bay leaf in a saucepan and heat on medium until just starting to bubble.
  2. Turn the heat off the milk and leave to steep while you prepare the other ingredients.
  3. While this all happens, prepare the fish and prawns and place in a separate bowl.
  4. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
  5. Heat the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat until melted.
  6. Add the flour to the melted butter and mix until combined.
  7. Leave the roux (flour and butter mixture) to cook for a couple of minutes.
  8. Once cooked, strain the steeped milk and add it a bit at a time to the roux, mixing well until there are no lumps between each addition (start slowly and then add large quantaties of milk as the mixture becomes more liquid).
  9. Add the onion salt, dijon mustard and crushed garlic clove to the sauce.
  10. Reduce the heat to low and cook the sauce for 5 minutes.
  11. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the carrots and pasta shapes to it.
  12. Cook for a minute or two less than recommended on the pasta packet before draining.
  13. When everything is ready, stir 50g (half) of the grated cheese into the white sauce and continue to stir until melted.
  14. Pour pasta and sauce into a 20cm by 20cm oven proofdish and mix well.
  15. Gently fold in the fish and prawn pieces.
  16. Combine the remaining (50g) grated cheddar with the breadcrumbs and sprinkle ove the dish as a crispy topping.
  17. Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the center reads 60 degrees Celsius.
  18. Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving and garnishing with the finely chopped parsley (or don't garnish if your toddler "no want green bits").
  19. Serve with lightly buttered garden peas.
Serves 4 adults and 4 toddlers.

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