Farinata recipe for baby-led weaning

Ok, this is one where I won't try to tell you that the no-salt version is as good as the salty version. You will want to make two of these, one for the big salt-loving people, and one for the very small, unsalty people who won't know the difference anyway.  Farinata is a highly tasty, flatbreadlike substance concocted from chickpea flour. It has the virtues of being a) very quick and easy to throw together, b) delicious, c) pretty healthy (chick peas! High in iron, fiber, and folate, among other things), d) gluten-free, if you're into that sort of thing, and e) delicious!  So it's worth doing a salt-free one for the little one even though that one will be just good, not OMG amazing like the fully-salted one. 

I used my trusty cast-iron skillets-- I have a little tiny 6-inch one one that I never know what to do with. As it turns out, it's perfect for a batch of baby farinata. If you don't have a well-seasoned cast iron skillet, then a nonstick pizza pan or even cake pan will do just fine.  Just make sure it's non-stick-- because this stuff is wont to stick in the worst way.

Farinata

1 1/3 c. chickpea flour
1 1 /3 c. water
5 1/2 Tbs olive oil
2 tsp minced rosemary
lots of freshly ground black pepper
(3/4 tsp. salt)

Preheat your oven to 450.  Go ahead and put your pans in to preheat along with it-- ideally a 10 inch one for the big people, and a 6 inch one for the baby's portion.  Whisk together the chickpea flour, water, and 2 1/2 Tbs. of the olive oil.  Let it sit there while the oven is heating, or up to 12 hours ahead of time. Right before you're ready to bake, whisk in the black pepper and rosemary. Hold off on the salt for now.

Take your pans out-- little one first-- pour in another tablespoon of olive oil and swirl it around to coat.  Pour in about 2/3 cup of the batter.  It'll sizzle! Now do the big one-- quickly whisk the salt into the batter, add the remaining 2 Tbs of olive oil to the 10" pan, pour in the batter. Sizzle! Now pop them both in the oven, and bake 10-15 minutes. It's often recommended that the broiler be used to brown them up nicely on top-- I found that mine browned without that, but go for it if you like the sound of it. But do make sure they're browned-- you want that flour cooked all the way through.

Cut it into wedges and eat it while it's warm. It's not as good once it's cold, but if you have leftovers, you can reheat them in a hot oven to good effect.

Quick sugar-free ginger-pear butter recipe for babies (or anyone, really)

I believe I've mentioned my ongoing obsession with jam making. Every time a new fruit turns up at the farmer's market, I buy a few pounds of it and turn it into jam. The pantry is really filling up, since I'm also the only one around who eats jam with any regularity.  I'm not ready to give any to Mae yet since it's full of sugar. (Mmm, sugar.)  It seems unfortunate that her mother is reguarly turning out delicious fruit spreads, and she can't have any. She has been getting one thing: some sugar-free apple butter we got at a country store in Nashville, Indiana. Fruit butters are a puree of fruit that has been cooked down until thick and spreadable. They usually have much less sugar than do jams-- perhaps half the amount or less.  Indeed, with certain fruits, you can get away with not adding any sugar at all.  The natural sweetness of the fruit becomes concentrated so you don't really need much extra sugar, if any.

The problem with butters is that it takes so long to cook them down, it's really an all-day affair.   But you can just make a very small amount for immediate consumption.  Like, say, one pear's worth.  It cooks down fairly quickly, you just have a little to store for a short time, you don't have to worry about buying a ton of fruit, spending 12 hours boiling it down, processing the jars for long-term storage, etc., etc. And you can experiment with flavors more freely without worrying that you're wasting a ton of fruit on something you might not care for in the end.

The technique is simple. Get some nice, juicy, ripe fruit. The best fruits for butters are pulpy, as opposed to juicy (for example, oranges would make a lousy butter, whereas apples, pears, plums are perfect for this application).  Just mash the fruit up in a skillet, add whatever spices you want, stir it as the liquid cooks off. When it's nice and thick, it's done.

 Quick skillet ginger-pear butter

1 ripe pear (should not be crispy, but soft and juicy)
a squeeze of lemon juice
1/4-1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger (1/2 tsp makes it very zingy!)
drop of vanilla extract
(optional: 1 tsp brown sugar)

Peel and core the pear. Chop it up in a few big pieces, put it in a small skillet over medium heat. Toss it with the lemon juice and mash it up good. Stir in the ginger, and vanilla. (And the teaspoon of sugar if you've decide to use it). Turn the heat down to low. Stir frequently-- more and more frequently the longer it's been on. You'll need to stir it more or less constantly toward the end or it may scorch.  After about 5 minutes, you should have a nice sauce-- you could stop there and mix it into yogurt or eat it with a spoon. If you want the spread, though, keep going and keep stirring another 5-10 minutes, or until it's of a thick, spreadable consistency (or until, in common jammaking parlance, it "will mound on a spoon").  It cooks down a lot. The one pear yielded about 2 tablespoons of spread.  Store it in the fridge until it's all gone. That shouldn't take long.

If you want to make more, go ahead and double or triple it, but use a larger skillet to cook it in so there's still plenty of surface area to help speed the evaporation along.

Messiness rating: 1 (1-2 wipe clean-up)