There are so many versions of Homity Pie doing the rounds on the internet that it is so hard to find what could have been the original recipe. The nearest I can get is simply an open faced, potato, leek and/or onion pie, with a shortcrust pastry and sprinkled with cheese on the top. The more cheese and butter you can spare the better (I’ve seen recipes using double cream and 1/2 lbs of cheese!) but of course in reality, made in the time of rationing one had to be careful with their fat and cheese ration.
But hang on a moment….lets give this some thought too. This was supposedly a dish created by “Land Army Girls”. Where did Land Army Girls work? On farms of course! There were perks to that role I’m sure like extra butter and cheese so before we think 8oz of cheese on top to feed 4 people is far too extravagant, it might not have been so bad when one was working for the WLA, toiling on a Dairy Farm! And lets not forget too that workers such as the WLA would have been receiving a “Special Civilian Ration”.
Special civilian rations
Persons falling within the following descriptions were allowed 8 oz (230 g) of cheese a week in place of the general ration of 2 oz:
- vegetarians (meat and bacon coupons must be surrendered)
- underground mine workers
- agricultural workers holding unemployment insurance books or cards bearing stamps marked “Agriculture”
- county roadmen
- forestry workers (including fellers and hauliers)
- land drainage workers (including Catchment Board workers)
- members of the Auxiliary Force of the Women’s Land Army[35]
- railway train crews (including crews of shunting engines but not including dining car staffs)
- railway signalmen and permanent way men who have no access to canteen facilities
- certain types of agricultural industry workers (workers employed on threshing machines, tractor workers who are not included in the Agricultural Unemployment Insurance Stamp Scheme, hay pressers and trussers).
I made this slightly altered version of “Homity Pie” and I’m calling it version 2 taking into consideration the small amount of cheese available to regular civilians and scarcity of onions.
Homity Pie Version 2 (feeds 4-6)
- 4 large potatoes
- 2 large leeks
- 1 large apple
- 4 oz cheese
- Couple of knobs of butter or margarine
- Fresh or dried thyme (or herbs of your choosing if available)
- Shortcrust pastry made with 6 oz plain flour and 3 oz of fat (could be a margarine and lard mix)
- Lots of salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Make the shortcrust pastry using plain flour (we used half strong wholemeal and half white) and 3 oz fat (I used 1/2 veg shortening and 1/2 hard margarine). Rub fat into flour to make breadcrumbs and then bind together with a little water to make a pliable dough.
- Roll the dough out into a greased pie dish and place it into oven on 200 c for about 10-15 minutes or so to half cook.
- Leave skins on your potatoes and chop into chunky cubes, place in boiling water and simmer until tender
- Chop up leeks and saute in a pan gently (with butter or margarine) until cooked. Add in plenty of thyme and the chopped apple (small pieces) and toss
- Drain potatoes and mash a little then add to pan of leeks, add more butter or margarine if available and 2oz of the grated cheese and loosely mix, add in lots of salt and pepper until it tastes good!
- Place mixture into the pie dish on top of the pastry, then top with 2 oz of cheese (or more if you have more available in your cheese ration as it completes the pie beautifully), a sprinkle more of thyme and pepper
- Cook in oven at 220C until the top is browned
- Remove and leave to cool a bit before serving
Homity Pie is one of my favourite pies quite honestly. It is tasty hot and cold the next day and one can see, if the story is true, that Land Girls would have loaded up their lunch tins with this delicious pie!
PS: I halved the ingredients in the pictures and made two generous portions but that could stretch to 3 portions with lots of veg and bread and butter on the side!
Much love, C xxxx
