Carrot Roll

Another lovely wartime recipe from English Heritage's Ration Book Cookery. Originally from the pamphlet Food Facts.

2 large carrots
1 tsp vegetable extract (Marmite or similar)
2 tsps fine oatmeal, toasted
cold cooked mashed potato

Grate the carrots and cook for 10 mins in a very little water. Add the vegetable extract and toasted oatmeal. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring to thicken. Cool. At this stage the mixture will be quite stiff. Have some cold mashed potato ready, dust the pastry board with flour and roll out into an oblong shape. Place the carrot filling in the centre, then fold over and shape into a roll. Dot with a few shavings of fat and bake in a moderately hot oven until nicely browned. Serve with well seasoned brown gravy.

You could leave out the Marmite. I was a vegetarian in the 70s and people insisted on adding Marmite to anything they cooked for you.

Red Cabbage Casserole

from Ration Book Cookery

1 small red cabbbage
a small onion, or chopped spring onion
8 oz apples
1 oz dripping
2 tsp flour
1/2pt water or stock
1/2 bay leaf
vinegar

Wash and halve the cabbage, remove the centre tough stalk and shred or slice the leaves finely. Chop onion finely and peel and quarter apples. Place cabbage, onion and apples into the melted dripping in a a casserole and saute for a few mins. Stir in flour and add the water or stock. Add the bay leaf, then simmer gently until the cabbage is tender, adding vinegar to taste.

Serve on its own or with sausages. Or fry bacon until crips, chop and add just before serving. These days we'd leave out the flour and add a couple of tablespoons of sugar or honey.

Vegetable Balls and Tomato Pancakes

From The Best Way Book, circa 1916. Economic recipes that sound just... delicious.

Boil some rice until soft. Have ready some left-over vegetables, chopped very fine. Now mix rice and vegetables thoroughly. Bind with an egg, form into flat cakes or balls. Fry in boiling fat. This makes a tasty meal.

Tomato Pancakes

Three or four tomatoes
One egg
4 tbsps flour
1/4 pint water
1 cup grated chese
tomato sauce
chopped parsley

Skin and seed the tomatoes, and mash with a fork
Make a batter with flour, egg and water and add the tomatoes
Beat well.
Heat some fat in a frying pan, pour a small cupful of the mixture, frying it until brown on each side.
Put a spoonful of hot tomato sauce in the centre of each pancake and fold over. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and grated cheese.
Serve very hot.

Cake or Pudding

From Ration Book Cookery.

12 oz hot mashed potatoes
flour to bind
4-6oz dripping, lard, suet or mixture
3 oz sultanas or other dried fruit
2 oz sugar
nutmeg

Mix the potatoes with a little flour to bind. Work in the fat, sultanas, sugar, salt and nutmeg. Add more flour to make a fairly stiff dough.

Put the mixture in a greased shallow tin and bake in a slow oven until crisp and brown. Serve hot for tea or with custard for lunch.

(You could probably add double the amount of sugar.)

Swedes with Cheese

From Vegetables for Victory, by Ambrose Heath, 1944

Boil some swedes, drain them and mash them well with a little margarine, salt and black pepper. Mix these with some thick white sauce which you have flavoured with cheese, made mustard, a pinch of sugar and, if you like, a few drops of onion flavouring. Put into a greased pie-dish, sprinkle with grated cheese, cheese and breadcrumbs, or breadcrumbs mixed with a little melted margarine, and bake in a moderate oven for half an hour, when it should be nicely browned.

We went on eating swedes (rutabagas) after the war, and you can still buy them, and they're still watery and tasteless. Onions were "in short supply" during World War II. Vegetables for Victory was written for vegetarians, who were also in short supply. People were still deeply suspicious of vegetarians in the 70s.