Another recipe from ‘Eating for Victory’. I LOVE this book because it literally is a made out of the scans of ACTUAL Ministry of Food leaflets bound together in a hardback book.
This recipe is for ‘Mince-in-the-Hole’ and was a way to use up bits of leftover meats which were minced up and formed into balls, roasted in the baking pan then the batter was added and baked until cooked.
Being a veggie I used Quorn mince but had problems forming it into balls that would stick together even with the addition of some sticky tomato chutney and a little bit of margarine. Nevertheless I was able to mound the mixture up sufficiently in the baking pan to make a fairly good attempt at it. It tasted very nice and I ate two portions with peas, carrots and gravy!
I’m in such a good mood about the forthcoming Dad’s Army Movie, I’m running a 1940s HomeGuard/HomeFront style GIVEAWAY to correspond with release of it!
The winner will receive a ‘Homeguard Memorabilia Pack, Vintage Union Jack style bunting, a Union Jack tea towel and a ‘Ration Book Recipes’ cook book. A great prize!
Goto www.the1940sExperiment.com, click on 145 Wartime Recipes, tell me below what your favourite is then SHARE this post on Facebook, or Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest or by e-mail with a friend.
Everyone who enters and has shared this page will go into the draw which will take place on February 8th, 2016. Winner will be announced on the 9th.
Lets get this straight right away. This doesn’t taste like crab in any shape or form BUT it was very tasty and so very simple to make and used up 1/2 a weekly egg ration per person (serves 4).
When I say it serves 4, it’s enough filling for 4 rounds of sandwiches with some cucumber, grated carrot, tomato or salad leaves…. but only just.
I served mine on a carrot and swede mash with some peas on the side. All my egg ration is used up for the week now as I had half of it.
Costs about 60p to make.
I got this recipe from yes another of Marguerite Patten’s books, “We’ll Eat Again”. More info here…
Wartime Mock Crab
1/2 oz of margarine
2 eggs or 2 reconstituted dried eggs
1 oz cheese
1 dessertspoon salad dressing
few drops of vinegar
salt and pepper as you like it
Method
Melt the margarine in saucepan, add the well beaten eggs.
Scramble until half set then add the rest of the ingredients.
Serve as a sandwich filling, on hot toast or over mashed potatoes.
In Marguerite Patten’s “Victory Cookbook” there is always one pudding recipe that is an absolute ‘go-to’ when one needs comforting and one has spare eggs.
All becomes good in the world when you take that first spoonful of sugary topped, eggy, bready, sultana sprinkled, nutmeggy deliciousness, especially if served with a little hot custard.
It’s so moreish that one simply finds it’s addictive charm and charisma extremely hard to fathom, due to it’s rather plain and dumpy exterior and the fact the main ingredient is stale bread. But as we all know, in real life, sometimes the less bling the more zing!
The cost to make this, about £1.50 (not including custard) which isn’t bad seeing it will feed 4-6!
During VE Day country celebrations in 1945, the farmers wife may have decided to make a REAL Bread and Butter pudding using shell eggs which would have been a bit of an extravagance.
4 large slices of bread
2 oz butter
3 oz sultanas
3 eggs
2 oz sugar
1 pint milk
For the topping:
sprinkling of sugar
a little grated or ground nutmeg
(to veganize use a 1/4 cup of soft tofu, blended, per egg, use a nut or soy milk and dairy free margarine)
Method
Spread the top of the bread with the softened butter and then cut each slice of bread into 4 neat squares and place buttered side up into a 2 pint (1.2 litre) pie dish.
Sprinkle the sultanas on top. Beat the eggs with the sugar. Warm the milk, pour over the beaten eggs and sugar and pour over the bread and butter. Leave to stand for 20-30 minutes until the bread is swollen.
Preheat the oven to 150C (300F) Gas Mark 2. Sprinkle a dessertspoon of sugar over the top with the nutmeg and then bake for an hour until just firm. If you’d like a crisp top turn the heat up to 180C (350F) Gas Mark 4 for the last 10 minutes.
I had Anna ask me on Facebook today if I could post a few days worth of what I would typically eat when I am having a good week and sticking to my wartime rationing eating plan.
A while back I did a 7 day food diary with blips and all so thought incase you missed it I’d re-post the links to each day below. During that week I lost 5lbs too which was a bonus!
I always rely on quite a lot of quantity in my daily eating, I LOVE my veggies and lots of them so do eat a lot of large salads and stews BUT I have to say that a big meat pie (in my case a meat substitute like Quorn mince) with mashed potatoes, veggies and gravy is one of my favourite dishes.
The total cost of all my weeks food (not including electric and cups of tea) was under £15 but that was not really having any desserts as I don’t often eat those, maybe just once a week!
Food Diary Day 1 – click here Food Diary Day 2 – click here Food Diary Day 3 – click here Food Diary Day 4 – click here Food Diary Day 5 – click here Food Diary Day 6 – click here Food Diary Day 7 – click here
I don’t know what it is but recently I have had a penchant for Norah Batty style wrap-around 1940s aprons. I strangely want to galavant around my kitchen looking like a dinner lady from my childhood and fling batter up the walls and make big trays of food that would probably have people running in the opposite direction shrieking “Oh no, not more cabbage…”. I think it is some sort of mid-life crisis that has deviated in completely the opposite direction.
I’ve been spending quite some time looking on the internet to see if anyone sells BIG SIZES in this apron style for my budget which is £15 or less. Even if I was wealthy, out of principle I wouldn’t pay more. I’ve been unable to find one big enough and cheap enough…
BUT I’ve found a pattern online which goes up to a 46″ bust which maybe, just maybe, after a week or two of copious amounts of 1940s vegetable stews, I might be able to squeeze into.
The temptation has been too great. Even though I can’t sew I will teach myself. Richard bought me a book on sewing for my birthday…one of those books with lots of pictures and step by step instructions ideal for beginners like me AND I did buy myself a sewing machine several months ago and recently bought a table for it off GUMTREE for £10. I have no excuse to get stuck right in…
So I’ve bought the paper pattern for £6.99 and the next day off I have once the pattern arrives from eBay, I’ll make a start.
Here is the link to the pattern on eBay if you are interested!
PPS: On an apron theme, I woke up at 3am last night and watched these two videos about making a simple apron from a tea towel and thought they were FAB!
For anyone who is interested in reading authentic Ministry of Food WW2 recipe and food information leaflets I have a growing collection on Pinterest you may find interesting!
Sometimes it’s lovely to sit down with a cup of tea and browse.
I have various themed WW2 Pinterest Boards you may find fun!
Tonight I will be tucked up in bed early scouring the internet for additions to my boards. I’m enjoying ‘home-front photos’ right now, and am ALWAYS on the look out for new Ministry of Food leaflets that have been put online.
