I realised the other day that I hadn't show you my little individual Woolton Pie in all it's gravy covered glory.
I showed you it the other day, naked in it's little enamelled dish, but not with it's pastry lid and ready for eating.
I rolled the lid out a little bit thinner to accommodate the piled up vegetables and once trimmed used those trimmings to make the letters for the top.
It would be a HUGE pie if you used one pound each of your chosen vegetables so I always just use leftover vegetables when I making another dish. It's a very basic and forgiving recipe, you just cook your vegetables and then assemble them in some sort of gravy or sauce under a pastry or mashed potato lid. If you are a meat eater you could also add some leftover, chopped up cooked meat to the dish before covering it with pastry.
Simple and very tasty, and possibly one of the most famous of all wartime recipes.
Sue xx
After reading that recipe I have renamed my 'sad soup', made from all the sad looking veg at the bottom of the fridge. We had some yesterday evening; it is,always delicious and I shall now call it Woolton Soup. Sounds classier!
ReplyDeleteHaha ... sounds a lot posher. :-)
DeleteVery adaptable and makes a nice meal out of leftover veg. And of course everything's nice when it's made into a pie and topped with grated cheese!
ReplyDeleteYou can't go wrong topping things with pastry can you. :-)
DeleteI always felt it sad that the name of the cook who actually developed the recipe seem to have been lost. Still Lord Woolton's undeniable skills kept the nation fed through his ration system, so he deserves to be remembered. When he was knighted, he had to change surname (his father was Mr Marquis, and he couldn't be called "Baron Marquis"!) Our meal yesterday was a sort of cottage pie, made with diced cooked beefburgers left over from the family BBQ.
ReplyDeleteIt's not lost, the recipe was created at the Savoy Hotel in London by a chef called Francis Latry. I shared the link all about Woolton Pie in an earlier post. He really does deserve to be remembered though I completely agree. Lord Woolton sometimes seems to have taken all the credit for everyone working behind the scenes at the Ministry of Food ... but then that is so often the way, unless something goes wrong isn't it.
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolton_pie
There is something thoroughly satisfying about a good pie :-) If you had any left over, would some of your 'cheese' work if you sprinkled it on top of the filling?
ReplyDeleteEveryone that I've read about or watched on YouTube that has tried adding cheese to pastry dishes seems to be of the same conclusion, the flavour gets lost. Your cheese ration is best for predominately cheesy dishes where it can shine. I don't think I'll risk it. :-)
DeleteThe finished pie looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteIt really was. :-)
DeleteGood to hear your review of the pie, I intend to make it when Mum comes to visit on Saturday. Phil is enjoying all the meals so far so much so that he has put on a pound ! Last night I made a lentil cottage pie, it was tasty and enough leftovers for tonight ,our first week has been very interesting I even made a loaf cake it's eggless and has very little fat, it's a wartime recipe and was delicious.
ReplyDeleteThe simple recipes just seem to work so well don't they. You can tell they were well researched so they wouldn't waste those valuable rations.
DeleteDid I managed to change the settings - am I able to comment as me? (Ulvmor)
ReplyDeleteYes! I did it! I just ... why everything has to be so complicated?
DeleteAnyway, Woolton pie might not be a success in our household as it is, but tweaking it a little might give it a change.
Yay ... you did. :-) Google and Blogger are a pain in the a*se!! ;-)
DeleteI think a lot of wartime recipes can stand to be tweaked with the ingredients that you have available and that your family like.
Sometimes simple is best isn't it - I bet that pie was delicious x
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
I think that's why I'm loving eating this way, it really is simple.
DeleteThis is such a simple but really versatile recipe...a great way to use up leftover veg too..hmmm....i'm envisioning this as a regular feature on Monday's after our Sunday dinner. :)
ReplyDeletePerfect, you could rename it Sunday Dinner Pie. It would vary a little each time depending on the type and amount of leftovers. Yummy. :-)
DeleteWe used to make these pies with our P7 pupils when they were doing WW11 Topic. Our cook was a gem and would fire the pies in the school kitchen ovens. Plenty of gravy and lots of complaints about no chips! Catriona
ReplyDeleteHaha ... I bet they loved it.
DeleteYour pie looks wonderful. I bet it was filling.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
That little enamel pie dish was just the perfect size for one, I don't think I could have managed any additional vegetables as well though.
DeleteWhen I managed restaurants we'd always have Woolton Pie as the vegetarian option for VE Day themed events. x
ReplyDeleteIt should have been on the menu ALL time, it's a winning recipe for using up all the previous days vegetable leftovers. Think of the profit margins. :-)
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