Woolton pie

The original version of this recipe was created by the Chef de cuisine at the London Savoy and recommended by the British government to a public struggling under an increasingly strict food rationing regime. Lord Woolton, Minister of Food from 1940, lent his name to the dish and saw to it that he was conspicuously photographed enjoying it. It was apparently roundly rejected by the general public as a poor substitute for meat pie. However, we think it's great vegan eating when considered on its own merits.

With a filling made entirely of vegetables that could be taken from one's "victory garden", and a crust that stretches flour and shortening to their limits by the addition of mashed potatoes, this recipe was designed to feed a family while consuming as few ration stamps as possible.

I've made a few concessions to the modern era of plenty, for example using vegetable stock instead of a yeast extract like Marmite for the "vegetable extract" called for by the original recipe, and adding a few herbs from the garden, but I've tried to avoid straying too far from the original recipe. I've also substituted cabbage for cauliflower, which would have been reasonable at the time, and added some mushrooms since they're a cheap year-round indoor crop here in North America.

Nutrition Fact: The parsnips and cauliflower (or cabbage) are good sources of vitamin C, which was in short supply at northern latitudes, and are proportioned in the original recipe in such a way that a serving a day of this pie would ward off scurvy for most people.

Ingredients

Filling

• 1 lb carrots, cubed
• 1 lb potatoes, cubed
• 1 lb parsnips, cubed
• 1 small head cabbage, core removed and sliced
• 8 oz mushrooms
• 1 bunch spring onions, chopped
• 2 cups vegetable stock, or 1 tbsp vegetable Better than Bouillon stirred into 2 cups hot water
• 5-6 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp dried fines herbes, or 1/2 tsp each dried chives and parsley

Crust

• 8 oz (about 1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 oz (6 tbsp) shortening (I used Earth Balance baking sticks)
• scant 1/2 cup mashed potato flakes plus 1/2 cup hot water, or 4-5 oz cooked mashed potato

Directions

Add filling ingredients except spring onions and fines herbes to a large pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer stirring occasionally until potatoes are soft, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in green onions and fines herbes. Pour filling into a 9x13 inch glass pan.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Rub in shortening with fingers until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Mix in mashed potato and form into a dough, adding 1-2 tbsp more water if needed. Turn out onto a board and roll out to fit the pan with room to fold the edges under. Top filling with the pastry, tucking the edges under (I fold the pastry into quarters, position it in the pan, and then unfold it, similar to how you'd work with shortcrust.)

Bake at 400F for about 25 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

Slice into pieces and serve topped with Mustard sauce.