Fuss-free food for children – salmon

I love to give the kids good home cooked food. However, I also like meals that don’t require a Cordon Bleu diploma and five hours of my time. Also, I’ve recently got into meal planning to help me save on time, money and waste. Oven-baked salmon is a dish that is very well received.

It is ludicrously easy to prepare – I’ve never followed a recipe – and healthy (aside from when I  add too much butter). It’s also great for adults and kids alike. Hence this meal occurs several times a month on my plan and why it’s perfect for the Organix #NoJunk Challenge.

I have been sent a sample of Bacofoil Non-Stick Foil to try out along with some tips. This is the brand that I use anyway as I find it is far more durable than supermarket brands. It is really good on the non-stick front too.

The salmon recipe (if you can call it that) and method

Ingredients

• Four salmon steaks
• Juice of one lemon
• A few knobs of butter
• One echalion shallot or two normal ones diced
• Pepper to season

For three children five and under (and to make two meals – I’ll explain later), I use four boneless salmon steaks. I put two steaks onto two pieces of foil.

Next I score the steaks, squeeze over some lemon juice, stick knobs of butter in the scored bits and add chopped shallots over the top. If I do this for my husband and I, I add plenty of black pepper and some white wine.

My freestyle parcel

I parcel it up and whack in the oven (pre-heated) at 180c for 25-30 mins (check to see if it’s cooked through). The BacoFoil website shows how to make really neat double-folded foil packets. Mine are far more rough and ready, but they’ve always worked just fine.

To serve

I usually serve with peas, sweetcorn or broccoli that I cook separately. However, a BacoFoil kids’ cooking suggestion is to make it colourful by letting them choose bright red and orange peppers, pieces of broccoli and baby corn for fish or chicken parcels. My three loathe peppers and aren’t huge fans of baby corn. However, I’ve added broccoli into the parcel this time. They also suggest letting the children open their own parcel at the table. The children liked doing this. I opened up the parcels a little first to let the steam out to avoid scolds. Broccoli was the best suited veg for the parcels as it was still a bit crunchy after 25 minutes.

I always make too much, so the next day I flake the cold leftovers and mix into couscous. I add broccoli or peas (whichever I haven’t used the day before). This makes a great hassle-free lunch.

After being sent the sample I took a look at the BacoFoil website and found some great recipe ideas. I’m definitely going to try out some of these.