Blossom: Day Twenty-Two, Vegan Wonderland

Incorporating the Return of Ersatz Coffee ...

Monday 22 Frocktober

Outfit/s

• Super-comfy not-well clothes.

 Menu

• Breakfast - toast, fruit and coffee
• Lunch - meatloaf sandwich and leftover veg
• Afternoon tea - fruit
• Dinner - Lord Woolton Pie

Mood

• Still headachy

Woke with a POUNDING headache. Assume was either a migraine or bad hayfever. Either way, I gave the Factory a miss today, which is not the spirit that won the war, but on the other hand I didn't make myself tremendously unpopular by growling at perfectly nice colleagues who don't deserve such things. Instead I languised on my sofa, cuddling my dog and reading soppy novels.

So not much about me to share today, and no bleary-eyed, housecoat-wearing selfies. Instead I will report that yesterday's meatloaf was lovely with salad in my sandwich for lunch, and report on tonight's meal.

I was still feeling a tad wobbly when the Captain returned home, and decided that dinner should be nutritious, forties-style and above all, easy to make.

So I decided to make a very classic 1940s dish called Lord Woolton Pie.

Lord Woolton was Minister of Food in the UK under Chamberlain's and also Churchill's ministries. It was he who was credited with much of the improvement of British diets during the second world war, with the Ministry encouraging housewives - and husbands left to fend for themselves while their wives did their war duty - to make their meals as nutritious, economical and free of wastage as possible.

This dish is of course named for him.

Woolton Pie, I realised only after I completed my meal with a satisfied sigh, is absolutely vegan-friendly. How nice!

Blossom's Lord Woolton Pie

This is pretty close to the original recipe. It is basically a root vegetable pottage topped with a crust. Sounds so simple? It is!

Gather the Usual Suspects. (I am so sorry. Not too much longer to go then it's exotic modern vegies all the way.)

A new suspect - parsnips!

Chop them up and bung them in a pot.

So far, so 1940s. I'm just grateful I didn't have to grate them.

Now, add some lovely things. The recipe calls for rolled oats and vegetable extract.

So I'm using Uncle Toby's finest and some vegan stock cubes. WHAAAAAH!

Pop them in the pot and add, for a bit of extra flavour ...

Spring onions.

Bung it all in your pot ...

... And add enough water to cover. Cook gently until all the vegies are nice and tender and the oats are creamy.

It looks like this.

Not FABULOUS, I'll grant you. But it smells lovely.

Put the vegetable pottage in a pie dish and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Because the parsley patch is still going bonkers.

Now add the crust. The recipe says you can use pastry or potatoes. I decided on the latter.

Using Them Up.

Pretty much done! All you have to do is pop it in a moderate oven until the crust is nicely browned. Took 40 minutes or so in my oven and looked like this.

And what was it like?

Delicious. Savoury, creamy, satisfying.

But I am easily impressed by anything containing turnip and parsnip - two of my most loved vegies. What did the Captain think?

He liked it.

The Captain does enjoy his vegies but he is definitely an omnivore, and less thrilled by things like parsnip and porridge oats than I am. However, he did say if he had spent a long hard day at Bletchley and came home in the cold and dark to be served this for his dinner, he'd be fairly pleased.

And that is high praise.

Woolton Pie: 10/10. I will be making it again.

Now - before I go, I must say that I hopped onto Facebook last night to whinge bitterly about my experience with Ersatz Coffee. I moaned that it made me feel like this.

Artist's impression

BUT the lovely Cec dived onto Facebook to implore me not to give up on her beloved dandelion and chicory root beverage.

She pointed out to me, sensibly, that I had essentially burned it by making it in my old-fashioned stovetop percolator. According to Cec, it is delicate and requires a gentle touch - and responds well to milk and sugar - and would reward those who made it respectfully with a satisfying mellow caffeine-free beverage.

Okay, I thought. Cec is a sensible person and she seems cheerful enough.

So I agreed to give it another try.

Following Cec's advice, I decided to steep my ersatz coffee gently - more like a quality tea than a put-hair-on-your-toes coffee.

So I decided to use this.

A wee squeezy-spoony-strainery thing. I don't know the real name.

I used a spoonful of the roasted grains in a coffee mug.

It still smelled nice, un-burned.

I made sure the water was just below boiling temperature.

And this time it didn't fill my kitchen with the acrid stench of distilled sorrow.

 I added some of this ...

Not much as I used a lot of my ration yesterday.

 And a drop of milk (of soy - why spoil the vegany fun?).

And I made certain it was in a Mr Percival cup. Nobody could be unhappy in the presence of Mr Percival!

Nervously, tentatively, I took a sip.







And you know what? It was lovely.

Gentle, smooth, with a nice roasted cereal flavour. I could tell that the milk and sugar made a big difference, but mostly it didn't have that ghastly burned fungus flavour, just a delicate richness. I still prefer Horlicks, because MALT, but I would certainly drink this again.

So, friends, allow me to correct myself.

Ersatz Coffee (made correctly) - 8/10.

And Cec? Thank you. These are for you.

For the lovely Cec.

Frock you later,
Blossom