Farmersgirl Kitchen

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

Ration Book Cooking - Wednesday 7th November

This is the Haricot Beans baked Boston style served with a slice of Wartime Loaf. We had this for our supper last night, I know it looks a bit dull, but it was actually really very tasty.

Here is the original recipe:

Haricot Beans baked Boston Style

Soak a quart of small haricot beans overnight in cold water, then in the morning drain them, cover them with fresh cold water, let them heat through gradually, and cook until the skins will burst, which point of cooking can be easily be ascertained by taking out one of two beans and blowing on the, when their skins will crack if they are done enough. Be careful not to let the water actually boil during the cooking. Then drain the beans , keeping the water for soup. Blanch a piece of fat salt bacon weighing about three-quarters of a pound, and cut off a slice about a quarter of an inch think. Put his slice in the bottom of the pot in which you will cook the beans, put the beans on top and embed in them the remaining piece of bacon, scoring the rind an inch deep every half-inch across, and leaving this rind exposed above the beans. Now mix together there level teaspoons of salt, two level tablespoonfuls of sugar and anything from a tablespoonful to a tea-cupful of treacle, according to the sweetness of your tooth, and moisten this mixture with has a breakfastcupful of boiling water. Pour this mixture over the beans and if there is not enough water to cover them, add more billing water until there is. Cover the pot now, and bake in a slow oven from six to eight hours, taking off the lid for the last hour to brown and crisp the bacon rind. If the beans who sign of drying during the cooing, add more boiling water, and if you like lean bacon as well as fat, decrease the amount of salt. If liked a level teaspoonful of mustard can be added to the liquid when it is poured over the beans. In the New York style, the treacle is omitted, and the beans are cooked in a shallow instead of a deep pan.

Here is my version which doesn't take six to eight hours!

250g haricot beans
150g bacon pieces
1 onion, sliced
2 tbsp treacle
salt and pepper

1. Soak the beans overnight in cold water, drain, cover with fresh water and simmer for about an hour until they have started to soften.
2. Heat an ovenproof casserole to a medium heat and add the bacon pieces, cooking until browned
3. Turn down the heat and add the onion, cook gently until softened.
4. Add the beans, treacle and enough boiling water to cover.
5. Cook at 150C for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, checking occasionally to make sure there is still some liquid left, top up if necessary.
6. Season before serving

Menu for Wednesday

Breakfast

Porridge made with water and salt

Lunch

Left over Haricot Beans baked Boston style

Supper

Egg and Sausage Tart with Baked Potato and green vegetables

As I am using up left overs, the only rations that I will be using will be tea.

WW2 Rations 1940 for three people

Butter ~~150g (6oz)~~ 75g Butter

Bacon or ham: ~~300g (12oz)~~ bacon in the Haricot Bean dish

Margarine: 300g (12oz)

Cooking fat/lard: ~~300g (12oz) 200g lard~~ 190g lard (tsp of veg oil)

Sugar: ~~675g (1lb 10oz)~~ 650g (25g black treacle used)

Meat: 1350g (3lb)

Milk: ~~9 pints occasionally dropping to 8 pints~~ 8 3/4 pints

Cheese: 150g (6oz) rising to 675g (1lb 10oz)?

Eggs: ~~3 fresh eggs per week~~ 0 fresh eggs

Tea: 150g ~~(6oz) 130g 110g~~ 90g

Jam: ~~150g (6oz) per week~~ 125g

Dried Eggs 3 packets (36 eggs every four weeks) 9 eggs for one week

Sweets: 262g (3oz) per week.

I'll be back with more Ration Book Cooking tomorrow.

Labels: bacon, Boston Baked Beans, Egg and Sausage Tart, haricot beans, Ration Book Cooking, Rations, The Wartime Kitchen, treacle

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Ration Book Cooking - Tuesday 6th November

After day one of living on WW2 rations, I have found that what I miss most is coffee! I did notice it wasn't listed in the rations, so went looking for some information and this is what I found out:

Sugar and coffee are imported from South America and the Caribbean. In addition to the hazards of shipping by sea, the military needed great quantities of these ingredients. Shortages of European sources being cut off meant that Britain only had access through the US adding additional strains on the supplies and the tonnage lost to the war in the Atlantic also added to the shortages. My husband's uncle was a Gunner for the Merchant Navy and worked on the convoys, including the Arctic convoys to help bring vital supplies to the troops and the Home Front.

1940

The shortage of imported coffee in WW2 led to a rise in the use of Camp Coffee; a concentrate made from just 4% coffee with chicory (a vegetable) as the main ingredient. I can remember visiting an elderly lady and being offered Camp Coffee in hot milk, I am no fan of warm milk in any drink and the combination of the milk and the, rather treacly, Camp Coffee was not to my taste!

And while we are on the subject of beverages, I've realised the benefits of drinking my tea black, no milk and no sugar. I stopped taking sugar in my tea when I was about 12 and stopped taking milk when I was a student with no fridge (students of today please note: no fridge, no phone, no computer or laptop, no central heating or washing machine - we went to the launderette) however, I digress, where was I? Oh yes, black tea is going to allow me to make some kind of pudding with my milk and sugar rations - result!

Menu for Tuesday

Breakfast
Two slices of toast (National Loaf) with 1 tsp jam
Lunch
Leek and Potato Soup (see Monday)
Supper
Haricot Beans, Baked Boston Style (from Vegetables for Victory by Ambrose Heath) serve with Carrots and Potatoes

1943

This little book belonged to my gran, who must have worn out the cover, recovered it with brown paper and stuck the picture back on the front! I think she used it well into the 1950's as there are some newspaper cuttings of Elizabeth David recipes tucked between the pages.

The Haricot Bean recipe is currently cooking in the oven ready for tomorrow, so I will post the pictures and recipe later. In the meantime I'm going to give you the recipe for the National Loaf. Over at Lavender and Lovage, Karen tells you more about how this came about.

NB: butter spread pre-rationing!

Wartime loaf

600 ml (1 pint) of warm water
5 teaspoons of quick rise yeast
couple pinches of sugar
2 lb of wholewheat (wholemeal) flour
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon rolled oats (for top)
drizzle of vegetable oil

Method

Place flour in large bowl
Mix in all dry ingredients except the rolled oats
Drizzle in vegetable oil
Pour in warm water
Mix thoroughly
When dough comes together knead for 10 minutes until dough is silky
Place back in bowl and cover
Let dough rise somewhere warm until doubled in size
Knead dough briefly again
Place dough into 4 x 1/2 lb tins (or 2 x 1 lb tins) that have been floured
Brush top with a little water and sprinkle on some rolled oats
Leave to rise for around 20 minutes
Place in oven at 180 0C for around 30-40 mins (depending on the size of the loaf)
Remove from oven
Cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting

I cheated a little here and used the bread maker to make the dough, then baked it in a tin in the oven.

So how are we doing with the rations?

WW2 Rations 1940 for three people

Butter ~~150g (6oz)~~ 75g Butter

Bacon or ham: ~~300g (12oz)~~ bacon in the Haricot Bean dish

Margarine: 300g (12oz)

Cooking fat/lard: ~~300g (12oz) 200g lard~~ 190g lard (tsp of veg oil)

Sugar: ~~675g (1lb 10oz)~~ 650g (25g black treacle used)

Meat: 1350g (3lb)

Milk: ~~9 pints occasionally dropping to 8 pints~~ 8 3/4 pints

Cheese: 150g (6oz) rising to 675g (1lb 10oz)?

Eggs: ~~3 fresh eggs per week~~ 0 fresh eggs

Tea: 150g ~~(6oz) 130g~~ 110g

Jam: ~~150g (6oz) per week~~ 125g

Dried Eggs 3 packets (36 eggs every four weeks) 9 eggs for one week

Sweets: 262g (3oz) per week.

Remember to check out how Karen and Fiona are getting on in their Wartime Kitchens.

Labels: Camp Coffee, coffee, haricot beans, Ration Book, Ration Challenge, Vegetables for Victory, Wartime Kitchen, Wartime Loaf, Wholemeal Bread, WW2

Monday, 21 May 2012

White Bean Soup - Random Recipe #16

It wasn't really soup weather yesterday, but I had planned to make my Random Recipe for the challenge at Belleau Kitchen and I was bloomin' sure I was going to make it! The theme this month is 'First and Last' with the rules as follows:

randomly select a book
2. look at the first and last recipes
3. choose one (or both if you're feeling flash..) of the recipes and make it
4. post the recipe on your blog with a link back to my blog and include the random recipes logo
5. deadline is midnight on the 29th May

The book I picked was the Good Housekeeping Best 30 Minute Recipes which I see is still available to buy, although I must have had mine for over 20 years. It's a great book which I have used a lot, but never have I made the first recipe for White Bean Soup.

White Bean Soup
Serves 4

1tbsp oil
125g onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 level tsp copped fresh rosemary or 1/2 level tsp dried
425g can haricot beans, drained and rinsed (I soaked dried cannelini beans overnight then boiled for 30 minutes before adding to soup)
1.1 litres vegetable stock
salt and pepper
Toasted wholemeal croutons and sprigs of fresh rosemary to garnish

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and saute the onion with the garlic and rosemary for 1-2 minutes. Add the beans, stock and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Puree half the soup mixture in a blender or food processor and return to pan. Bring back to the boil, stirring all the time. Adjust the seasoning.
3. Serve the soup sprinkled with croutons. Garnish each bowl with a sprig of rosemary.

This was our first meal outside on the patio this year, my son joined us and, on taking a spoonful of soup, pronounced 'That's really good' with a sound of surprise in his voice! Praise indeed.

Labels: beans, cannellini beans, haricot beans, Random Recipes, Rosemary, Soup, vegetarian

Sunday, 23 October 2011

Bacon or Ham Stewpot

There is something about a really messy casserole dish that appeals to me. Of course, what really happened is that I tried to stuff too much food into my Le Creuset and it leaked out!

If you don't eat meat you could leave it out and it would still be a tasty stewpot.

However I had this gammon joint from the lovely Kilnford Barns Farm Shop and I thought it would be ideal to get at least half the week's dinners out of it. As I already had Pamela Westland's Casserole Cooking out of the bookcase for Random Recipes last week, I noticed that there was a 'bookmarked' recipe for Bacon Stewpot.

750g (1.5lb) unsmoked bacon, collar or slipper

25g (1oz) butter

225g (8oz) small onions, peeled

4 medium leeks, trimmed and thinly sliced

2 tbsp plain flour

450ml (3/4 pint) stock, hot

2 medium carrots, sliced (I used about 10 small/medium carrots)

225g (8oz) haricot beans (soaked overnight and drained)

225g (8oz) potatoes peeled and sliced (I probably used about 2lb, no wonder if spilled over!)

freshly ground black pepper

The recipe states that you should remove the rind and cut up your ham into cubes, but as I wanted to use it for other things, I cooked it, covered in water, for 20 minutes in the pressure cooker until it was just tender. I kept the ham stock to make soup later.

1. Melt the butter in a casserole dish and gently fry the onions and leeks until they are soft.

2. Stir in the flour, and add the hot stock stirring constantly. Simmer to cook out the flour for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add the bacon, carrots beans and potatoes (to be honest you could use any root veggies here, add a bit of celery or some butternut squash, whatever you've got, bung it in)

4. Season well with pepper and bring to the boil for 3 minutes.

5. Cover the casserole and cook in a pre-heated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

6. Serve with a green vegetable.

As I wasn't using the cubed bacon but had the whole joint in the pot, so once it was cooked I took out the bacon joint, halved it and cut half into cubes then stirred them back into the vegetable mixture.

This makes a huge pot of delicious, filling and warming food, which would feed 6-8 people. It would be ideal for a Halloween or Bonfire Party and, even better, I still have half the ham which I'm making into a pie and will feature in another post soon!

Labels: bacon, Bookmarked Recipes, carrots, casserole, Gammon, ham, haricot beans, Le Creuset, potato, stewpot, Vegetables, vegetarian

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