Calling all mummies living in italy need help with some recipes!

[weatherlyn]

Hi ladies, my DS is now nearly 10 mths and i am using annabel karmels book for ideas but i am getting a bit stuck with some of the ingredients, i live in the south of italy and just cant get my hands on some of the things needed like:
cheddar cheese - which italian cheese can i use as a substitute?
gruyere cheese- what is it and same as above, what can i use instead?

secondly, any ideas for aubergines? i have a 100 recipes for adults, none for babies and it is the one veg that we get all year round, any ideas for finger foods? if you have any other recipe ideas for me, please share, thanks a mil, lynsey

[mcruari]

Hiya Lynsey *waving from up north*

Cheddar Cheese is unique I'm afraid but Parmigiano is a good substitute if you are cooking the cheese for say "au gratin" dishes.
Gruyere is similar to Emmental. This is also used mainly in cooking. Here is a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruy%C3%A8re_(cheese)

Aubergines are difficult to use as finger foods as they go soggy with cooking. How about adding them to sauces (ie sugo di pomodoro) or serving as a veg, maybe simply cooked in a touch of oil with parsley. I LOVE the in batter and fried and my MIL does them wonderfully but I'm not sure you're looking for anything like that

HTH

Ciao

[weatherlyn]

thanks honey will look at link, i am looking to make cheese sauce which italian cheese would you recommend?

[mcruari]

I'd personally use Taleggio and Parmigiano.

Good luck

[weatherlyn]

once again i am going to pick your brain, it has gotten super hot here and luca wont eat his lunch until it is practically cold. the annabel karmel book is great, but all the recipes for nine to twelve months are very wintery eg sheperds pie etc etc any ideas? i am useless without a recipe book just cant seem to invent things, cooking not my forte!!!!!

[Freya'sMum]

Well, I'm not in Italy (boo!) but when it is hot and sunny in the UK (ha, ha, ha, ha!) we have lots of pasta salads! I boil up some pasta spirals, stir in some pesto (you can have some lovely fresh stuff - mmmm!) and serve either warm or cold with some ham, cheese cubes, and salad sticks (the seedy bit of cucumber is good for los with no back teeth, celery is good to gnaw on, apple slices and grapes quartered, cherry tomatoes quartered, cold roasted yellow and red peppers too, with skin removed etc...)

The chicken/pork and apple sausages that I talk about early on in the Baby-led weaning support thread are easy to make, good to freeze and can be eaten hot or cold too - perfect for a 9-12 months old exploring finger foods!

Ax

[weatherlyn]

hi alison thanks for all the good tips, is the recipe for the sausages on the thread? and that pesto, here in italy it usually has a load of garlic, can they eat that at 11 months?

[Freya'sMum]

You can introduce garlic as you would any new food, or do what Eryn did, and just dive into a big bowl of mummy's pesto pasta and hope all is well - it's her favourite food! The sausage recipe is on the baby-led weaning support sticky thread, page 2!

Ax

[yaya]

Other cheese : fontina or asiago, melt well in sauces

[weatherlyn]

thanks yaya for fontina tip!! went to thready didnt see second page... blonde you know....

[Freya'sMum]

Ax

[Messa]

Here is the second page of the BLW support thread.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=92561.15