Ration book cookery seems to have involved a lot of 'mock' stuff. Mock goose. Mock beef rissoles. Mock crab. Mock clotted cream. And so on. Not very appetising propects on the whole. Tonight's dinner involved mock goose, but I can categorically state that it neither looked, nor tasted, nor in any other way resembled any breed of goose known to mankind, even in the slightest. Whichever clever clogs down at the Ministry of Food invented and named this dish, must have thought the British public were either complete dolts or very easily fooled. I bet they weren't.
It was even difficult to photograph because it's not very attractive. I was dreading serving it up, imagining having to throw the whole lot out and make us toast instead. But here's the surprising bit. It actually wasn't bad.
In the most basic terms, mock goose is a bit of stuffing made of bread crumbs combined with onion that has been sauteed in stock, and pressed between two layers of boiled lentils. Then the whole thing is baked for a short time. I agree, it does not sound that good and if someone said they were making this for dinner and would I like to join them, I'd find some reason not to go.
Now I wouldn't want to have to eat this every day or even every week, but as a meal I can value its merits. It's filling, contains no fat at all, costs practically nothing to make, and with the right amount of seasoning, it's quite tasty.
Verdict: This is another quick and easy dish to make, although I had serious doubts about how well it would work. I'm glad that once again my doubts were unfounded. The whole thing binds together pretty well and can be sliced to serve. I added the tiniest bit of grated cheese on the top, mainly for photographic purposes, but you don't need it. I had one small piece and along with two slices of Spam and some iceberg lettuce, I felt full without feeling heavy. Satisfying is probably the right word.
Tim says: It was salty, yummy goodness. I would be happy with that every night. I even ate my lettuce, although I could do without that. I LOVED the fried Spam.
Ingredients
150g split red dried lentils
275ml water
15ml lemon juice
salt and pepper
For the stuffing:
1 large onion, chopped
50g wholemeal fresh breadcrumbs
15ml fresh sage, chopped
Cook the lentils in the water until all the water has been absorbed. Add lemon juice and season.
Then make the stuffing: saute the onion in a little water or vegetable stock for 10 minutes. (I used stock and cooked until the onion was soft and the stock evaporated. Probably closer to 15 minutes). Drain, then add the breadcrumbs. Mix in the chopped sage.
Put half the lentil mixture into a non-stick ovenproof dish, spread the stuffing on top, then top off with the remaining lentils. Put in a moderate oven until the top is crisp and golden.
NB. I lined a small tin with aluminium foil to avoid any sticking as there is no fat in this one. This took about 20 minutes to cook at 180ºC.
Ration Book Cookery, Gill Corbishley, 2004, p24
4 comments:
My Grandma just taught me her mock cream last week. She uses it for everything and it is actually really, really good!
I think I will have to try it now I've heard this. I think the word 'clotted' used in conjunction with 'mock' put me off.
I have never tasted real goose so if I make this I will not know the difference ;)
the part-English girl in me is feeling quite drawn to some of these dishes. My mother is the daughter of a war bride and didn't cook anything half an interesting as these dishes!
I'm going to dig out of my ancient cook books now and see what I can learn from them.
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