ANNABEL KARMEL - Top 100 Pasta Dishes

Annabel Karmel is the UKs best-selling author on baby and childrens food and nutrition. She is an expert in devising tasty and nutritious meals for children without the need for parents to spend hours in the kitchen. A mother of three, Annabel is the number-one parenting author in the UK and fourth best-selling cookery writer. She has written 19 books on feeding babies and children (as well as teaching children how to cook), including Complete Family Meal Planner, The Fussy Eaters Recipe Book and the Princess Party Cookbook. Her books have sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Her Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner has become the authoritative guide on feeding babies and children and is regularly in the top five cookery titles.

Books are not the only string to Annabels bow; she has created the Eat Fussy range of chilled meals, which is now the number-one range of branded ready meals for children in supermarkets. She has the popular Make it Easy range of equipment for preparing baby food. Annabel has also created a co-branded range of Healthy Foods for young children with Disney, and has developed her own collection of cooking equipment for aspiring junior chefs. Annabel is passionate about improving the way children eat in popular family attractions, hotels, pubs and restaurants, and her menus can be found in all the major theme parks including Legoland and Thorpe Park, as well the UKs largest Holiday Park group Haven Holidays and Butlins. In 2009 Annabel won a prestigious Caterer and Hotelkeeper Excellence in Food award for her childrens meals, as well as the Lifetime Achievement award at the Mother and Baby Awards in 2009. Her popular website www.annabelkarmel.com has more than 80,000 members, and offers parents delicious recipes for babies, children and adults, as well as information on all aspects of nutrition.

Annabel writes regularly for national newspapers and magazines and also appears frequently on radio and television as the expert on child nutritional issues, including This Morning, BBC Breakfast, Sky News and Radio 2, 4 and 5 amongst others. She was recently voted as one of the iconic chefs of her generation for ITVs This Morning. Annabel was awarded an MBE in June 2006 in the Queens Birthday Honours for her outstanding work in the field of child nutrition.

www.annabelkarmel.com For most kids, mums and dads, pasta is the best food in the world! Its tasty and nutritious, easy, quick and economical to cook, and even better, comes in lots of fun shapes! Here is Annabel Karmels ultimate collection of pasta dishes, with 100 recipes for the whole family and for every day of the week. With separate sections on pasta for babies (its a good way of introducing texture), toddlers (pasta makes a fantastic standby supper) and families with older children, the book features fuss-free meal ideas to make your life easier. My children, Nicholas, Lara and Scarlett who have eaten their way through this book. My children, Nicholas, Lara and Scarlett who have eaten their way through this book.

Lucinda Kaizik, Marina Magpoc and Leee Maycock for fun times in the kitchen assisting me in testing recipes. Seiko Hatfield, my wonderful food stylist. Dave King for his stunning photography and Jo Harris for the props. Mary Jones my publicist. My mother Evelyn Etkind for her endless support. Aurelia Stearns, my beautiful cover model.

Everyone at Ebury, including Carey Smith, Fiona Macintyre, Sarah Lavelle, Louise McKee, Sarah Bennie and Helena Caldon. All at Smith & Gilmour. All the gorgeous models: Lily and Oscar Smith, Carina Skalicky, Storm Chambers and Madelaine Hamilton.

SUITABLE FROM 8 MONTHS MAKES 4 PORTIONS PREPARATION TIME: 8 MINUTES / COOKING TIME: 15 MINUTES SUITABLE FOR FREEZING Fish is good for the brain; omega-3 essential fatty acids are found in oily fish and make up 40 per cent of the brain. A babys brain grows rapidly between birth and three years, and most of this growth takes place in the first year, so its important to introduce fish such as salmon early on. 50 g (2 oz) salmon fillet 150 ml ( pint) unsalted vegetable or chicken stock 40 g (1 oz) baby pasta shells a knob of butter small onion, finely chopped 2 tsp plain flour 100 ml (3 fl oz) milk 50 g (2 oz) broccoli, roughly chopped 3 tbsp crme frache 3 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated 1 tsp lemon juice tsp fresh dill, chopped tsp fresh chives, chopped To cook the salmon, either poach the fish in a little of the stock over a low heat for 34 minutes, or until it flakes easily with a fork, or cook in a microwave with a couple of tablespoons of stock for about 2 minutes. 50 g (2 oz) salmon fillet 150 ml ( pint) unsalted vegetable or chicken stock 40 g (1 oz) baby pasta shells a knob of butter small onion, finely chopped 2 tsp plain flour 100 ml (3 fl oz) milk 50 g (2 oz) broccoli, roughly chopped 3 tbsp crme frache 3 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated 1 tsp lemon juice tsp fresh dill, chopped tsp fresh chives, chopped To cook the salmon, either poach the fish in a little of the stock over a low heat for 34 minutes, or until it flakes easily with a fork, or cook in a microwave with a couple of tablespoons of stock for about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Drain. To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the onion and saut for 34 minutes until just soft. Add the flour and mix together, then blend in the remaining stock and milk. Bring to the boil.

Add the broccoli and simmer, covered, for 56 minutes until soft. Whiz in a food processor until smooth. Stir in the crme frache, Parmesan, lemon juice, herbs and cooked salmon. Simmer for 2 minutes. Serve the drained pasta with the sauce.