Chicken with cauliflower and broccoli in white sauce

This creamy chicken white sauce puree with broccoli and cauliflower is a great high-protein food for babies 9-12 months. Toddlers and older children will also love it.

Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 20 minutes Difficulty rating: Easy-Medium

Age Recommendation: 9-12 months

Ingredients

Makes 24 serves

• 700g skinless boneless chicken thighs
• 250g broccoli
• 250g cauliflower
• 1 litre of milk
• 2 heaped tablespoons plain flour

Method

1. Trim all fat from chicken thighs using kitchen scissors.
2. Lightly grease a pan with a little oil or butter so the chicken does not stick. Add the chicken and cook on a medium heat, turning over once to cook the other side. Chop roughly.
3. Wash and cut broccoli and cauliflower into florets and put in a pot with a little water. Steam until tender.
4. In another pot, mix the milk with the flour. Place over a high heat and stir well with a whisker until the mixture starts to thicken and become a sauce. It will stick to the back of a spoon when ready.
5. Mix vegetables with chicken and white sauce. Chop roughly in the blender leaving small lumps and serve.

Tips

• Chicken thighs have little pockets of fat in between the folds of the meat, separate the folds to trim as much fat as possible.
• When making the white sauce, you must ensure you don’t let the mixture stick to any part of the bottom of the pot. Do not leave it and do something else, if it is not whisked while cooking it will have irreversible lumps.
• This recipe also works well with carrots and green beans instead of cauliflower and broccoli.
• If serving to older children or adults, add a couple of stock cubes or seasoning to the white sauce, do not puree and serve with pasta or couscous.
• Leaving small lumps in the food of 9-12 month old babies is important to help them develop the muscles necessary for chewing and making the transition from liquids and soft solids, to harder solids.

Nutritional content

Nutritional analysis per 90 gram serve:

References

1. AusNut. Nutrient Database. 2007. (cited 27 April 2012). Available from: URL Link
2. Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Nutrition Panel Calculator Database 2011. 2011. (cited 30 April 2012.) Available from: URL Link
3. Queensland Health. Introduction to Solids. 2008. (cited 1 October 2012). Available from:  URL Link