BRIDGING THE POTATO GAP

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 172, 9 October 1942, Page 11

BRIDGING THE POTATO GAP

EW potatoes will soon be here now; but in the meantime, here are séme more ideas to help us not to miss potatoes too keenly at dinner time. Savoury Suet Dumplings These are excellent popped for the last 25 minutes into a good stew of beef or mutton and vegetables. The dumplings should be quite small-no larger than @ ping pong ball. Make them in the usual way-%2 lb, flour; 4% teaspoon baking powder; %4 Ib. finely shredded suet; a pinch of salt; and a little grated onion and chopped parsley. Mix lightly with water and cook at once. They may also be cooked in boiling water and served with any entree dish-liver and bacon, grilled steak or chops with gravy, fried sausages with gravy, stuffed steak, etc. Castleford Toad in the Hole This is a real Yorkshire recipe. Served with a green vegetable. and perhaps baked pumpkin, potatoes will not be missed. Four nice chops; ¥% pint milk; 1 tablespoon flour; 2 eggs; 1 cupful breadcrumbs; 1 teaspoon mixed parsley and thyme; pepper and salt. Trim off the skin and most of the fat from the chops. Grease a deep pie-dish, sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and minced herbs, and salt. Lay the chops on the breadcrumbs. Make a batter with the milk and flour, and the 2 eggs well beaten, also a pinch of salt. Pour this batter over the chops, and bake in a moderate oven for about an hour. Should more chops be needed, then add a little more milk and flour to the batter. Another Toad in the Hole One and a half pounds of rump steak, 1 sheep’s kidney, 1 large or 2 small onions, pepper and salt to taste. Cut the steak and kidney into convenient-sized pieces, roll them well in flour, put into a deep pie-dish with onions, sliced, and pepper and salt. Cover with water. Place a lid over and simmer gently in oven till nearly done. Take out some of the gravy, and keep for serving with the completed dish, and cover the mixture with the following batter-3 eggs, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 pint of milk, and a pinch of salt. Place in a tolerably brisk oven till cooked. Sausages may be well substituted for the steak and kidney. Pease Pudding (1) One pound of split peas; 1 beaten egg; 2 tablespoons bacon fat; 112 teaspoons dried mint; pepper and salt. Soak peas all night. Then boil till cooked. Rub through sieve, stir in beaten egg and rest of ingredients. Put in greased basin, cover with butter paper, and boil 1 hour. Pease Pudding (2) (Taihape) Soak 1 Ib. dried green peas in a basin with hot water, and a pinch of bicarbonate of soda if very old. Leave two hours, then strain off, and cook for 20 minutes steady boiling. Strain off half the water, add pepper and salt; and 1 teaspoon of dried mint. Have ready a mixture of 2 tablespoons finely shredded suet; 1 large cup flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder, and mix into a light dough. Roll out, and line a basin, pour in the peas, place g lid of dough on top, and steam 14%

hours. Turn out, and cut in squares, serving with meats, Rabbit Pudding Line a basin with a good suet crust; put small portions of rabbit in the centre, sprinkle over them some chopped onion and herbs, and add a few pieces of bacon. Pour over a little gravy or stock,

cover with a suet crust, and boil gently for two hours. This recipe is for raw meat, but it can also be made with rabbit which has been left over from the day before; and in this case it needs boiling only 114% hours. Chiac This is a Norwegian dish. Cut up about 114 cups of cold beef, or any other cold meat; with a little fat. Soak about 114%4 cups breadcrumbs in some good gravy, add salt and pepper to taste; 1 dessertspoon Worcester Sauce; and 1 beaten egg. Mix well, and press into a mould. Bake slowly about 45 minutes. Turn out and sprinkle a few breadcrumbs over, and return to the oven for a few minutes. Serve with good gravy. Haricot Beans Cover with lukewarm water and put to soak all night. Then drain them, cover again with lukewarm water, and bring gently to the boil, adding a tiny pinch of bicarbonate of soda, and boil for one minute. Strain away that water, and cover with fresh; bring to the boil and simmer till soft. To Serve: (1) Cover with a good white sauce (preferably with chopped parsley added), and serve as a vegetable. (2) Mash well when soft, and mix with an equal quantity of parsnips mashed with butter, season with pepper and salt, and bake brown in a greased pie-dish. A few breadcrumbs may be sprinkled over the top, with knobs of butter here and there. For a variation, bacon bones may be boiled with the beans.