Wartime recipes, substitutions and other related austerity hints

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Mrs LW - Am I right in thinking the sausages in the salad are cold?  (Goes to stand in corner with conical hat bearing a D)

[Deleted User]

You can either use cold sausages and cold potatoes or have them both warm on a colder day, a warm salad is nice too!

Homity Pie   this is a modern recipe so not wartime frugal and serves 6 but the portions are generous and I'd use half quantities to serve 4.

2lbs floury potatoes boiled and diced
1oz margarine
1 tablespoon oil
2 large onions thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
3 cloves garlic crushed shortcrust pastry made with 8pz flour
6 oz cheddar cheese grated
salt
pepper

Boil and dice potatoes, melt margarine and oil in a frying pan and stir in the onions and herbs and cook very gently for half an hour until golden, stirring occasionally.  Add the garlic and cookfor a couple of minutes then tip in the diced potatoes and crush slightly with a spoon to break them up a bit. season to taste and set aside to cool.

When the filling is cold preheat the oven to 200degC/180deg Fan/gas mk 6. set a baking tray on a shelf in the oven to heat up.

Roll out the pastry fairly thinly and use it to line an 8" loose bottomed cake tin, bringing it up the sides of the tin for about 2".  Stir 2/3 of the cheese through the cold potato mixture and pile into the pastry case spreading it evenly. sprinkle over the remaining cheese and bake for 40 minutes until the pastry is cooked and the top is golden brown.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes before easing out of the cake tin'  Transfer carefully to a serving plate or wooden board and serve hot or warm.


Hope this is nice if you decide to give it a go xxx.

taka

The Cranks recipe for Homity pie is https://cranks.co.uk/recipes/homity-pie/   There are several other recipes there that are pretty basic storecupboard / fridge + basic veg friendly if anyone is interested too

Brambling

Thanks Mrs LW and Taka I had forgotten about Cranks 

[Deleted User]

Morning, today some pudding recipes that are simple but tasty and can be made even with reduced groceries available as we're all having to wait for deliveries and the things we need to actually arrive on the shelves in the shops aren't we? and sometimes it's really nice to have a dessert particularly on Sundays.

Apple Sponge   serves 4
1 lb apples (wrinkly from the fruit bowl is fine too) of any kind peeled and diced
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 1/2oz margarine
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
4oz S/R flour 
pinch of salt
milk or water to mix

Put apple in an ovenproof dish and drizzle over the golden syrup.  Cream margarine and sugar together, add in the egg, add in the flour and enough liquid to make a cake type batter.  Pour over the apple , spread to cover it and bake in a moderate oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour.


Rhubarb Crumble   serves 4

1 lb rhubar2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 1/2oz margarine
4 oz flour
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons sugar

Wash the rhubarb and cut into 1/2 inch pieces and simmer in a pan with a little water until cooked.  Add the golden syrup and pour into the bottom of an ovenproof dish.  Rub the fat into the flour, add the sugar and mix.  spread the crumble mix evenly over the rhubarb and bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes or until the crumble topping is beginning to colour.


Plum Batter   serves4

1lb plums
4oz plain flour
pinch of salt
1oz sugar
1egg
1/2 pint milk and water
1oz margarine

topping

1oz flaked almonds
2oz sugar
1teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to gas mk 6/ 400deg F/ 180deg Fan/ 200 deg C
.
Stone the plums and cut them into slices, put flour, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl and make a well in the middle then add the egg and half the milk and water and beat until smooth, add the remaining water gradually beating it in too. Melt the margarine and beat into the batter. Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and put the plum slices into it evenly spaced. Mix all the topping ingredients, sprinkle over the batter and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Serve with custard.

[Deleted User]

As the weather has turned colder again I thought today I'd put some soup recipes here, nice to have something warm ready to go particularly if you're nursing your tea and coffee stocks along because of delivery slot shortages.

Tomato Soup   4 cups

1/2oz margarine
3oz sliced carrot
4oz sliced potato
a piece of leek sliced and cleaned
 a piece of celery sliced and cleaned
1 rasher of bacon
2 pints of boiling stock
1 400g tin of tomatoes (any, whole, chopped, passata or fresh)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
good grinding of pepper
2oz plain flour
1 teaspoon dried oregano/basil/mixed herbs/herbs de provence

Heat the margarine in a saucepan and fry the carrot, potato, leek, celery and bacon for a few minutes.  Pour on the boiling stock, add the tomatoes and seasoning with the dried herbs and simmer until the vegetables are soft and cooked through. blitz with a stick blender or rub through a sieve then reheat to a simmer and thicken with the flour mixed to a thin cream consistency with some cold water  and whisked into the simmering soup, stir well while adding in the flour mixture.  Cook at a simmer for 10 minutes, check seasoning and adjust, add a little more sugar if needed.  Serve hot and sprinkled with fresh basil or parsley if you have it.


Oatmeal Soup   4 cups  Surprisingly savoury and creamy textured.

1oz margarine
1 onion peeled and chopped
3 carrots cleaned and diced
1 stick celery cleaned and chopped
1 leek cleaned and sliced (green and white parts included)
 1oz porridge oats or oatmeal
600ml stock

salt
pepper
fresh chopped parsley (if you have it) or shake of dried if not
150ml milk

Melt the butter in a saucepan add the veg and stir over a gentle heat then put on a lid and 'sweat' the veg for a couple of minutes.  Add in the oats and stir over a medium heat for 3 minutes.  Pour in the stock, stir well and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer covered for 45 minutes.  Season to taste and add the parsley.

Heat the milk until almost boiling, stir into the soup, taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.  serve piping hot.


Lentil Soup   4 cups


8oz split red lentils, picked over and rinsed in a sieve
1 onion peeled and chopped
1 large carrot washed and diced
1 stick celery washed and diced
2 bacon rashers chopped into small pieces
1 and 1/2 pints water
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
 1 bay leaf
salt
pepper
1 teaspoon yeast extract

put the lentils, herbs and veg  along with the bacon into a heavy based pan, bring to the boil and then simmer, covered, on a very low heat  for 1 hour until the lentils are softened and breaking down in the liquid. Add the yeast extract, season to taste and serve hot.  

I find soup a very nice thing to have if we get hungry mid afternoon and it's also nice to have as a supper drink in the evening when milk is short , we prefer our milk in our tea.

Hope these are proving useful, if not let me know and I'll stop boring you with old recipes xxx.

boultdj

Bore away please Lyn, recipes which are  practical and tried and tested are a god send.

Nonnadiluca

Seconded, thanks Mrs LW.

[Deleted User]

Tomorrow I'm going to post a few recipes for some TREATS! wartime style of course but some yummy things to cheer up our shut in lives just a little!

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MrsLurcherwalker said:

Tomorrow I'm going to post a few recipes for some TREATS! wartime style of course but some yummy things to cheer up our shut in lives just a little!

Ooh, I like the sound of that Mrs LW  *drool* Far from being bored, I find myself looking forward to the latest suggestions.

  I actually find it a little disturbing that people are referring to The Great Shutdown as "the new normal".  It's nothing of the sort.  And I don't think that during the war, people thought of their situation as "normal".  My impression is that they thought of it as necessary and something they needed to accept and adapt to.  But it wasn't normal and it was going to end.

  I was thinking that if we're going to be on an almost wartime footing, would some sort of challenge to live wartime-style for, say, a month be an idea?  After all, the difficulties in getting to the shops and lack of choice make eating not unlike being on rations; the shortage and limited use of anti bacs etc means falling back on older remedies - which often seem to be more effective anyway (eg soap and bleach break down the lipids surrounding the virus and stop it reproducing); not being able to get things fixed or a new one delivered (eg my fan oven's stopped heating) means finding ways around the problems.

  I know there's a Covid-19 Support thread, but this would be a bit different from that.  Not just about the challenges of self-isolating, more about getting round all the problems that are being thrown at us, as they had to do in wartime.  I think it's happening already - things like posting to tell others that A*da/Sainsbobs etc have delivery slots isn't that different from the wartime practice of telling your friends when the grocer/butcher had a delivery in.

  Would a challenge add a sense of fun/achievement, turn it into an experiment or make it interesting and, well, challenging, rather than a burden do you think?

  I'm not explaining it very well and it's only a vague idea which isn't fully thought out (as you can tell!)  I just wondered if there'd be any interest.  Ready to be told to get a grip and go away...