Heat the oven to 350°.
Prepare the pastry: Mix the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon of water. Roll out the pastry. It should be about ¼ inch thick. Roll it onto the rolling pin. Brush the edge of the pie dish with the egg and water mixture. This is called a glaze. Roll the pastry off the rolling pin and onto the pie dish, covering it completely. Trim it evenly with a small knife, saving the bits. Press gently to the rim of the dish to seal it. Gather the bits and form a ball. Roll it out again. Brush the entire surface of the covered pie. Cut long strips, about ½ inch wide, and fit them neatly round the edge of the dish, pressing them into place. Mark them evenly with the tines of a fork. Make pretty cutouts with the rest of the pastry—leaves and flowers or your initials—and place them on the pie top. Brush the surface again with the glaze.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes. When you take it out of the oven, sprinkle with some sugar while it’s still hot.
Date Bread
1¾ cups sifted all-purpose flour (sift first and then measure)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
¾ teaspoon baking soda
⅓ cup softened butter
⅔ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 cup chopped dates
loaf pan, 7½ inches × 3¼ inches × 2¼ inches
Heat the oven to 350°.
Butter the inside of the pan lightly.
Sift the measured flour, salt, cream of tartar, and soda into a small bowl. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy. If you don’t have a mixer, use a large wooden spoon. Beat the egg thoroughly and mix with the butter and sugar. It will look curdled. Don’t worry—that’s how it should be. Stir in the flour, bit by bit, till thoroughly mixed. Then stir in the chopped dates. Mix again. The dough will be very thick and heavy. Spoon into the buttered loaf pan.
Bake for 1 hour in the middle of the oven. Turn out on a wire rack to cool.
Dressing for Salads
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons oil (olive or your favourite vegetable oil)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Mix the ingredients in a small glass jar with a screw top.
Shake thoroughly before pouring over your salad and tossing. If this mixture is too sweet, reduce the amount of sugar.
“There are some,” says Mary Poppins, “who like it without any sugar.”
Easter Cake
6 large eggs
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour (sift first and then measure)
6 tablespoons melted butter
9-inch ring mold or tube pan
Heat the oven to 350°.
Butter lightly the mold or pan and dust with flour.
Choose a large bowl that will fit over a saucepan of very hot, but not boiling, water. Break the eggs into the bowl and start beating right away. Beat for about 5 minutes, by which time the eggs will be light and fluffy and pale yellow. Add the sugar gradually and continue beating. This is hard work and will take 15–20 minutes. If you have an electric beater, so much the better. Add the almond extract and beat till the eggs have almost tripled in volume. When you lift the beater, the mixture should stand in peaks. Fold in the flour very gently and thoroughly, and lastly the melted butter, very gently. Spoon the mixture carefully into the prepared pan and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 35 minutes.
Take it out of the oven and turn it upside down on a wire rack to cool. If it does not drop out of the pan of its own accord after 7 or 8 minutes, help it by running a knife around the edge and giving it a few gentle taps.
Fruit Salad
2 oranges
1 grapefruit
1 apple
1 pear
¼ pound grapes
1 banana
1 pint strawberries (optional)
Over a bowl, peel the oranges and grapefruit—the bowl will catch the juices. With a small, sharp knife cut out the sections and let them fall into the bowl. Squeeze the juice out of what is left. Peel and core the apple and pear. Slice or dice—whichever shape you prefer, but not both. Mix with the oranges and grapefruit. The citrus will prevent the apple and pear from turning brown.
Wash the grapes, and if they are not seedless, cut them in half and remove the seeds.
Peel and slice the banana. Mix with the other fruits.
If the salad is not sweet enough, stir in some fine sugar. There will be enough natural juices without adding a syrup.
Lastly and just before serving, wash and hull the strawberries. Cut them in half and mix with the other fruits.
Mary Poppins serves this with whipped cream for special parties.
Gingerbread Stars
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon mixed spices—nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
¼ cup seedless raisins
¼ cup or 4 tablespoons butter
½ cup, packed full, dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons dark molasses (dark treacle)
1 egg, well beaten
baking sheet lightly buttered and dusted with flour
2 6-inch star shapes, buttered and floured, or 1 8-inch sandwich cake pan
Heat the oven to 350°.
Sift into a mixing bowl the flour, soda, spices, and ginger. Stir in the raisins. Melt the butter and sugar together in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from the stove and allow to cool a little. Add the molasses and then stir with the beaten egg into the spiced flour and mix well with a large wooden spoon. Place the two star shapes on the buttered baking sheet. Divide the batter equally between the two star shapes or fill the sandwich cake tin.
Bake the stars for 30 minutes and the cake tin for 40 minutes in the middle of the oven. “If you don’t have star-shaped tins, use a round one, eight inches in diameter, and then you have ‘full moons,’” says Mary Poppins.
Turn out on a wire rack to cool.
Honey and Bananas
2 tablespoons butter
3 bananas, not too ripe
¼ cup honey
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
ovenproof dish, approximately 9 inches × 15 inches
Heat the oven to 350°.
Grease the dish with a little of the butter.
Peel the bananas and cut in half lengthwise. Fit them into the buttered dish. Mix the honey, water, and lemon juice together and pour over the bananas. Dot with what’s left of the butter.
Bake for 30 minutes. Baste with the juices frequently. When the bananas are done, there should be little liquid in the dish, and it will be like a thick syrup.
Irish Stew
4 pounds lamb shoulder chops
3 pounds potatoes (the old crop is best)
3 large onions
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3- or 4-quart casserole with lid
Heat the oven to 325°.
Ask the butcher to cut up the chops. Pieces about 2 inches square are good. Remove all fat. Peel and slice the potatoes. They should be as thick as 2 quarters. Peel the onions and slice them as thin as possible. Cover the bottom of the casserole with a layer of potatoes, then a layer of the lamb pieces, followed by sliced onion. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Begin all over again with layers of potato, lamb, and onion, sprinkled with salt and pepper. Continue until all the lamb is used up. End with a layer of potatoes. Pour in enough cold water to reach the level of the top layer of potatoes.
Cook for 2 hours, covered, in the oven. Cool and skim off fat, if any.
Heat again in the oven before serving. Half an hour should be enough at 350°. There will be ample for 6 or 8 servings.
Jam Tarts
The Pastry:
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
8 tablespoons or 1 stick cold butter
iced water
Heat the oven to 400°.
Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the shortening, and chip the cold butter into the bowl. Break up with a pastry blender until the mixture is coarse and mealy. Add enough cold water to form a ball (about 3 tablespoons), handling as little as possible.
Transfer the dough to a floured board. Spread out with the heel of your hand once, gather into a ball, and seal in a plastic bag or plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Roll out the dough. It should be between ⅛ inch and ¼ inch thick. Fit it into small tart tins. It is best first to cut pieces roughly the size of the tins and, after they have been pressed firmly into each tin. trim the edges neatly with a sharp knife. Prick the pastry all over with a fork. This allows the air, trapped between the pan and the pastry, to escape and prevents the pastry from rising.
Put all the tart tins on a baking sheet and bake in the middle of the oven for 10–12 minutes. Take them out of the oven and fill with jam while they are still hot.
Kale (Cabbage)
3 pounds kale
3 quarts water
3 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Wash the kale in running water. Cut out the coarse stalks. In a large pot bring the water to a boil. Add the salt. Throw in the kale leaves and boil rapidly, without a lid, for 4–5 minutes or until the leaves are tender. Drain very well in a colander and press out any water that is left.
Melt the butter in a smaller pan. Chop the kale and mix with the butter till hot. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Kings’ or Twelfth Night Cake
1 cup (½ pound) softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
3 cups self-rising flour
1 dried bean
cake tin, 8 inches round × 3 inches deep, lightly greased with butter and dusted with flour
Heat the oven to 325°.
Cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy. Beat the eggs and the milk and add gradually to the butter and sugar. Continue beating while adding the flour.
Spoon into prepared cake tin. Drop the bean into the batter. Bake for 1¼ hours. Cool on a wire rack.
“Everyone knows,” says Mary Poppins, “that the bean is there for a purpose. Whoever finds it in his piece of cake is sure to have great good luck.”
Lancashire Hot Pot
2 pounds best end of neck of lamb (neck or shoulder chops)
3 lamb kidneys
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds potatoes
3 onions, small to medium
1 pinch of dried thyme or 2–3 sprigs of fresh
1 small bay leaf
½ cup beef stock
2 tablespoons melted butter
3- or 4-quart casserole with a lid
Heat the oven to 350°.
Ask the butcher to cut the chops into bite-size pieces. Remove all the fat. The meat may be removed from the bone, but Mary Poppins prefers not to because, left on, it gives a good flavour to the hot pot.
Skin and cut the kidneys in half and in half again. Cut out the center fatty core. Season the meats generously with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and the crumbled bay leaf. Peel the potatoes and slice them rather thickly, about ⅜ of an inch. Peel and chop the onions finely. Butter the inside of a casserole. Cover the bottom with a layer of potato slices. Sprinkle with a little thyme. Stand the cut-up chops upright on the layer of potatoes with a piece of kidney between each one. Sprinkle with chopped onion and cover with a layer of potatoes and then lamb and kidney. Continue in this way till all have been used up, ending with a layer of potatoes. Pour in enough beef stock to come up to the bottom of the top layer of potatoes. Brush potatoes with melted butter. Cover with a lid and bake for 1 hour.
Lemon Soufflé
4 tablespoons or ½ stick butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup warm milk
1 large lemon, grated and squeezed
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
4 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
pinch of salt
1- quart soufflé dish
baking sheet
Heat the oven to 400°.
Butter the inside of the soufflé dish. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Turn it upside down to remove the surplus.
In a heavy saucepan melt the butter till it foams. Turn down the flame and stir in the flour. Cook for 2–3 minutes. Stir all the time to prevent the flour from scorching. This mixture is called a roux. Take the pan off the fire and pour in the milk all at once. Stir vigorously and return to gentle heat. Stir till the sauce thickens. Add lemon rind. Stir in the sugar and remove pan from the fire again. Turn off the heat. It won’t be needed again. Allow the mixture to cool.
Separate 3 eggs. Stir in the yolks and the lemon juice. This mixture is now called the soufflé base. Separate one more egg and add the white to the others in the bowl. Now you have 4 egg whites. Beat till they foam and froth. Add a pinch of cream of tartar and a pinch of salt. Continue beating till stiff peaks remain when the beater or whisk is removed.
Using a large metal spoon, stir 1 heaped spoonful of egg whites into the soufflé base. Spoon this mixture into the bowl containing the egg whites. Fold one mixture into the other until all the whites have been evenly mixed with the base. Don’t overdo it or you will burst the small egg-white bubbles. Spoon carefully into the prepared soufflé dish.
Put the dish on a baking sheet for easy lifting in and out of the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle the top with fine sugar and serve immediately. You must wait for the soufflé—it won’t wait for you.
Meringues
3 egg whites
pinch of salt
pinch of cream of tartar
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 baking or cookie sheets
Set the oven at 250°.
Lightly grease the baking or cookie sheets with butter. Dust with flour and shake to remove the surplus.
Beat the egg whites with a whisk or rotary beater till frothy. Add salt and cream of tartar. Continue beating until mixture holds shape. Gradually add the sugar and continue till mixture is very stiff and shining. Long, hard beating is very necessary. Drop the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets by the tablespoonful.
Bake for 45–50 minutes until meringues are firm to the touch. Turn off the oven and leave the door open. After 1 hour remove the meringues with a spatula.
Mary Poppins sandwiches two together with sweetened whipped cream for a special treat.
Nut Loaf
2 cups all-purpose sifted flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
⅓ cup butter
1 egg, well beaten
1 cup cold milk
1 cup shelled nuts, finely chopped (walnuts, pecans, or hazels)
loaf pan, 8½ inches × 4½ inches × 2½ inches, buttered and floured
Heat the oven to 350°.
Sift the flour and baking powder together into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour with your fingertips or a pastry cutter. It should now look and feel like coarse cornmeal. Beat the egg and milk together and add gradually to the flour and butter mixture, beating very hard. Stir in chopped nuts. Turn into prepared loaf pan.
Wait 20 minutes before baking. Bake in middle of the oven for 1 hour.
Turn out on wire rack. Cool before cutting.
Oatmeal Cookies
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 cups quick oats
baking o
r cookie sheet greased lightly with butter
Heat the oven to 450°.
In a mixing bowl beat the eggs and sugar together till light in colour and creamy. Stir in the salt and oatmeal. Drop the batter, teaspoonful by teaspoonful, onto the baking sheet about 4 inches apart—they will spread—and flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in water.
Bake for 5 minutes until the edges are golden. Remove from the sheet with a spatula at once and cool on a wire rack.
“This recipe,” says Mary Poppins, “will make about three dozen sweet biscuits or cookies. Very good to store for a rainy day.”
Potatoes
Potatoes are a most useful vegetable and may be cooked in many different ways. When they are new and small, they should be scrubbed with a hard brush and cooked in boiling salted water—1 tablespoon to a quart—to which a large sprig of mint has been added. Cook till tender, about 15 minutes, depending on the size. Served with butter, this makes a separate course to a meal.
To bake potatoes, wash but do not peel. Rub the skins lightly with butter or oil and bake for about 45 minutes in a 450° oven. Before serving, make two deep cuts, crosswise, and squeeze the potatoes so that they open. Pop a teaspoon of butter into the gap.
Potatoes cooked in their jackets, peeled, and mashed with a little butter, milk or cream, and salt and pepper are good served with sausages.
Queen of Puddings
Mary Poppins in the Kitchen Page 3