Collective work - Food Facts for the Kitchen Front

Serve with a light shaking of vinegar.

Not only is cucumber useful as a sandwich filling, or as raw vegetable in salads, but it is excellent steamed or fried. Don’t peel the cucumber; the outside skin makes it more digestible.

Made into small “cups”—by trimming the cucumber into small lengths and scooping out one end—the vegetable can be stuffed, or par-cooked, and used to hold small quantities of sauce-bound foods—meat or fish.

A very attractive effect is obtained by stripping off the skin at regular intervals to a width of 1/ 3inch, so that the cups appear to be striped. If time is short, it is best to keep the skin on the vegetable entirely, rather than remove it and cause waste by careless cutting. When stuffed, steam for about 30 minutes.

Slice the cucumber thickly and cook for about 10 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain, and thicken the liquid with a little flour to make a sauce, as described on p. 115. Return the cucumber to the sauce, heat up and serve as a green vegetable.

Cut a medium-sized cucumber into 2-inch lengths and boil for 4 to 5 minutes in a little salted water. Roll in breadcrumbs, put in a baking tin with a little fat and bake until golden brown (about 5 mins.).

CUCUMBER SAUCE, see p. 115, SAUCES.

( See also p. 108, SOUP.)

To prepare leeks—trim off the roots, the outer tops and the sheath coverings. Split them down the centre and wash very thoroughly, as they hold grit between the folds. Allow them to soak for 20 minutes to half an hour in cold salted water, to ensure they are clear. Then drain, and cook until tender in a very little boiling salted water, from 20–30 minutes according to size.

Drain them well, and serve with a simple white sauce.

8 oz. flour (self-raising)

2 oz. finely chopped suet.

2 oz. grated raw potato.

Filling—2–3 large leeks, or six small ones.

Pepper and salt.

Trim the leeks, cut in four lengthwise, wash thoroughly and slice finely into 1-inch lengths.

Make up the pastry, and line a pudding basin with two-thirds of it, leaving the remaining piece to form a lid, rolling it to a round the exact size.

Fill up the basin with the cut leeks, seasoning at each layer. Lay the lid in position, damp the edges, and seal together. Cover with a greased paper, place in the steamer and cook for about 2 hours. Serve with a good brown gravy.

Another method. —Form the pastry into an oval about 1/ 4inch thick. Spread the chopped leeks over the pastry and sprinkle with seasoning. Dampen the edges of the pastry and roll up firmly. Wrap tightly in a margarine paper, and steam for an hour and a half.

Lettuce is at its most valuable when served raw (see p. 60, SALADS). These recipes for cooked lettuce may come in useful when you want to vary the vegetable course.

Wash and quarter the lettuces, and cook in a very little salted water until tender (about 10 minutes). Drain well, saving the liquid for soup.

Lettuce and spinach, cooked together, half and half make a pleasant change.

4 small lettuce.

1/2 gill shelled peas.

Bouquet of herbs (tied in muslin).

1/2 gill stock.

1 teaspoon of chopped parsley.

11/2–2 oz. dripping or cooking fat.

Salt, pepper.

2–3 spring onions chopped.

Wash and prepare the lettuces, breaking up the large leaves, then place them in a saucepan in which the dripping has been melted and heated. Allow to sauté in the fat with the chopped onion for a few minutes, then add the stock, seasoning of salt and a little pepper, with the shelled peas.

Cover, allow the stock to come to the boil, and continue the cooking for about half an hour, with the pan tightly covered.

Just before the dish is to be served, add a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley.

2–3 good-sized lettuces (Cos).

1 oz. margarine.

3/4 oz. flour.

1/2 pint stock or vegetable boilings, milk and water, etc.

Seasoning.

Wash the lettuces, and cook gently in the liquid for 5 minutes. Lift them out, halve lengthwise, and remove some of the hearts.

Fill the cavities with the stuffing below, tie the halves together with thread, and replace in the stewpan or casserole to complete the cooking. When tender, thicken the liquid with a binding of fat and flour, loosened by the hot stock, and boil for three minutes. Serve round the dish with the lettuces.

STUFFING.—3 oz. medium oatmeal; 1 heaped teaspoon chopped parsley; salt; pepper; 1 dessertspoon melted dripping; 2 oz. breadcrumbs; 1 heaped teaspoon minced onion; 1 good teaspoon vegetable extract; pinch of mace.

Toast the oatmeal beforehand, under the grill or in a cooling oven, till crisp and nutty. Dissolve the vegetable extract in 1/ 2pint of boiling water, then sprinkle in the oatmeal and cook, stirring, till thick and allowing to simmer for half an hour.

Then mix in with the other ingredients, binding with a little melted dripping. Season well, and use to stuff the hollowed lettuce. (Any lettuce hearts removed from the centre are useful additions to soup or vegetable casseroles.)

Cut a medium-sized marrow in two lengthways and scoop out the seeds. Fill with stuffing made of a breakfastcupful of wheatmeal breadcrumbs (use any left-over pieces of bread for this), 2 tablespoonfuls minced fat bacon, 2 spring onions chopped, sprinkling of mixed herbs, pepper and salt, bound with a little milk.

Put the halves together, tie round with tape or string, put in a baking tin with about 1 oz. dripping and bake until tender (about 1 hour) basting frequently.

1 medium-sized marrow.

1–2 spoonfuls milk.

1 oz. fat bacon (rasher).

Toasted oatmeal.

Mushroom sauce—made from 2 oz. chopped mushroom stalks, 11/2 gills stock or water, 3/4 oz. flour.

Peel the marrow, remove the seeds and cut it into small pieces. Place in a saucepan with just enough water to prevent it catching, add a pinch of salt, and “steam” until all the water has evaporated.

Next add the chopped fat bacon and sauté a short time for the flavour to be absorbed, then season well, and sprinkle with a little toasted oatmeal.

Make the mushroom sauce, then turn the marrow and chopped bacon mixture into a greased dish, pour on the sauce, and sprinkle with toasted oatmeal to form a crisp cap. Brown off quickly in the oven (or under a grill) and serve hot.

When they are in season, field or downland mushrooms make delightful flavouring for vegetable dishes, as well as attractive stuffings to make meat meals go further.

Although cultivated mushrooms are available throughout the year, the price is rather too high for most people in war-time. Often, however, it is possible to buy the trimmed stalks from greengrocers at a few pence the pound, and these are worth consideration for their flavour alone, especially in casseroles, soups, and savoury toasts.