A Woolton pie for our times

I didn't post yesterday because, no matter how much I would think myself a good writer, I can't stretch "I made bangers and mash" much beyond 5 words.

Today, however, there's more excitement to be had. I'm making a rich Woolton pie and a richer-still tomato soup.

The shortage of tomatoes earlier in the project made me start hoarding tomatoes, buying them whenever I could find them. The result, obviously, was 10 rapidly softening fruits not getting any fresher. A couple were seriously over-ripe, but there's a good way round that: roasting them.

As I've said before, most tomato soup recipes will have you skin and seed them, but the skins and seeds have no further use, so I'm roasting the entire thing. Slice them in half lengthways, sprinkle with sea salt, drop on each a couple of slices of garlic (or a shake of garlic powder) and put some finely chopped basil leaves on top of the entire lot. Cook in a very low oven for an hour. This intensifies the flavour of the tomatoes.

When they're done, I'll finely slice an onion and make up a stock-based roux (it's a broth rather than a cream of tomato soup). When that has become a soup, I'll put the roast tomatoes and a chopped carrot into the broth, boil, then let it cook off the heat covered. If you've got celery, add that. I don't have celery. I've not had celery for bloody weeks. What's the problem with celery shortages?

Anyway, back on topic. When the carrot is soft, drain the lumps from the broth and blend the former and add the resulting mulch back into the broth. Bring back to heat and serve.

Meanwhile, I'm making this rich Woolton pie, with help from my leftover mash from yesterday. I've taken a collection of winter root vegetables (beetroot, carrot, parsnip), a leek, a courgette (US: zucchini) and some mushrooms and cut them to equal sizes. Scrub, but don't peel. Chuck them in a heavy-bottomed pan and put them on a low heat on the stove. Stir a few times at first until they start giving up their liquid, then leave covered for 10 minutes. Take off the heat and leave covered until ready.

I've saved up my cheese ration and some milk and I'll make a cheese sauce (knob of fat, small chopped onion, flour and milk to a roux, crumble in the cheese, make up slowly with more milk and the liquid from the vegetables until you've got a cheese sauce, season as you see fit).

Put the vegetables into a pie dish. Cover with the cheese sauce and stir in. Cover with the mashed potato and place in a medium oven. If you've got cheese left over (I haven't), you can sprinkle that onto the mash; or you can put little pinches of butter on top (I've not got any of that, either). It's done when it's heated through - when the potato starts to get crisp on top.

A Woolton pie will be filling enough on its own; a soup starter certainly means leftovers that will reheat in a low oven tomorrow. The mushrooms give it a meaty flavour, but you can add gravy to make it more exciting if you like gravy-and-cheese in combination (CJBS yes, RJG no).

Finished the Woolton Pie

...and it was excellent. Filling, tasty, and about 75p per helping per person. CJBS had seconds, enjoying the pie as much as my non-rationed version of old. I think it looked very appetising.

But then, very broadly, pie always does. But CJBS is the final arbiter and he shovelled it down.

Halfway through a Woolton Pie

The potato pastry was excellent to work with. A great consistency, although not all that good at sticking together where there were gaps. Still, it's a hit with me and better than the pre-made stuff, so I'll do it again.

The boiled vegetable mass was drained and put into a pie dish, where it sat looking unappetising, as you'd expect.

The stock, now, I suppose, on its third use,was returned to the pan with some gravy powder (which is cornflour and onion powder) rather than the rolled oats that Patten recommends. Brought back to heat, it thickened and I mixed it into the veg mix.

Then I put the pastry over the dish, used the leftover bits to make a stereotypical leaf design, punched a hole in the top and brushed the result with a very small (1fl oz) amount of fresh milk.

 

And now into a moderate oven until CJBS gets back from work. I'll report back.

Starting a Woolton Pie

As a fairly ordinary lazy person, I tend to buy ready-made pastry. There, I've said it and my Mum will now break down in tears. So making pastry is a fun new thing. Making potato pastry is even newer.

There are two types, one using mashed and then sieved cooked potatoes, but Patten warns subtly that this method uses less fat and has a bland flavour. The second version replaces 2oz of fat with grated raw potato, and is apparently much more robust in taste.

I took six ounces of self-raising flour and a pinch of salt, and rubbed in 3oz of cooking margarine - now somewhat forgotten but you'll remember it from your childhood childhood hood hood od od (no brand names, no pack drill). This took forever. Then I grated in 2oz of raw potato. This was then also rubbed in. With a little bit of water, a dough was made.

Then it was time for the pie filling. This was just £3 of seasonal vegetables - a small turnip, a small swede, two potatoes, a carrot, a leek and three very large mushrooms. Diced up, these were put in my stock pot, then I added the left over stock from Friday's meal, which was enriched by cooking (faux) bacon with the vegetables.

This has now boiled on the stove for 10 minutes, covered, and all the veg has softened. Next, the oven stage...

Eating well the Frederick Marquis way

With time ticking on this experiment beginning (2 January), I'm going to have to tackle a proper Woolton Pie.

I already do a modern version that CJBS loves, but that version isn't as economical on rationed and short-supply items. My version uses no discrete fat but does use too much cheese and too much fat in the pastry.

For my usual version, I take seasonal root vegetables peeled and chopped and put them in a heavy-bottomed pan. Cook, covered, on a medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so they don't stick to the bottom. This causes the vegetables to sweat. When the pan has liquid in the bottom, I add mushroom essence (bottled or from the liquid dried mushrooms have soaked in for a few hours), stir well again, and then add grated cheese - about two handfuls. Keep stirring until the cheese has melted around the vegetables and take off the heat.

Make (or buy, I'm not proud) shortcrust pastry, line a pie dish with it, then tip the vegetable mix in without the liquid. Cover with more pastry and bake in a moderate oven until the pastry browns. Serve with gravy. You can also top with mashed potato instead.

Now, Woolton Pie is designed to use almost no fat. The basics are the same, but without the cheese and without the shortcrust pastry. For the former, gravy browning takes the liquid and stiffens it. For the latter, it uses potato pastry, basically made from rubbing the potatoes with other ingredients forever, or a similar version that also uses grated carrot. Either way, the pastry doesn't keep. Make and use immediately, else it goes an unappealing grey, warns Marguerite Patten.

The result could be truly boring and even fat-free mash would be better, but I fancy the challenge of making something interesting out of it. So that's tomorrow evening's plan.