Friday, July 8, 2011

WWII Rationing: Bacon Turnovers and Mock Apricot Flan

We'll Eat Again: A collection of recipes from the war years", selected by Marguerite Patten


Rationing time once more! This time, hopefully with better results.



Bacon Turnovers
Cooking time: 30 minutes Quantity: 4 helpings

Pastry
12 oz self-rising flour or plain flour with 3 teaspoons baking powder
pinch salt
3 oz cooking fat or bacon fat, see method

Filling
4 oz fat bacon rashers
2 cooked leeks, finely chopped
8 oz cooked potatoes, diced
1-2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Method: Sift the flour and salt, rub in the cooking fat. You could use the fat that runs from the bacon if it is allowed to become cold instead of the cooking fat. Bind with water. Grill and chop the bacon rashers, cool then mix with the leeks, potatoes, and parsley. Roll out the pastry and cut into 4 large rounds. Put the bacon mixture in the centre of each round; moisten the edges of the pastry with water. Fold over to make a turnover shape and seal firmly. Bake in the middle of a hot oven for 25 minutes until crisp and brown. Serve hot or cold.





Mock Apricot Flan
Method: Line a large 9 inch pie plate or flan dish with shortcrust pastry or oatmeal pastry or potato pastry, see recipes left and right. Bake without a filling in a hot oven for 20-25 minutes until firm and golden.

Meanwhile grate 1 lb young carrots. Put into a saucepan with a few drops of almond essence, 4 tablespoons of plum jam and only about 4 tablespoons of water. Cook gently until a thick pulp. Spoon into the cooked pastry. Spread with a little more plum jam if this can be spared.

Note: The carrots really do taste a little like apricots.


Oatmeal Pastry
Sift 6 oz self-raising flour with a pinch of salt. Rub in 2-3 oz cooking fat, then add 2 oz rolled oats. Mix with water and use as ordinary shortcrust pastry.


Verdict:

Bacon Turnovers: Reasonably tasty! And yes, I used the bacon fat in the pastry. Mmmm. These serving sizes are massive! One of these would have made a good dinner for DH and I with a couple side dishes. It did not taste very much of bacon though. It's mainly potato and leek. That's all right though. It was much like really nice hash browns inside pastry, and as such, was vastly improved with a little bit of ketchup.

Mmmmm... hash browns in pastry.

Mock Apricot Flan: This tastes... kind of like apricots. Yes, really. Not spot-on, obviously, but a reasonable facsimile. Surprising! Husband and I agree; the first bite is kind of all right, but then as you're eating it, it grows on you. As a bonus, you feel really virtuous while eating it because you are eating a massive amount of carrots. The oatmeal pastry is also reeeeeaaaaaally good. It makes it taste a little bit nutty. I would happily use the pastry recipe again!

5 comments:

J.W. said...

Hmm...interesting.

That flan looks kind of creepy at first glance. Makes more sense once you said it was carrots. I'm going to steal have to try it...the oatmeal crust would be nice with a lot of sweeter fillings.

Jana said...

Yes... Never fully trust a "mock" anything. The oatmeal crust is lovely though.

GStaples said...

Sounds good. I have made a mock apple pie using Ritz crackers, why not an apricot pie? On the pie crust, I bet it was good and flaky. As bacon or beef grease (lard) was used before Crisco. Not that I am an expert as I like 1/2 butter, 1/2 Crisco. You have good things a cookin'!

Jana said...

I've heard mock apple pie is all right. I should try that sometime.

Nancy said...
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