The Kitchen Warrior.

I want to keep to the World War I and Australian themes today, but this time to remember that the war was fought at home too. Mothers and wives and sweethearts had their role to play, on what became called the “Kitchen Front” in World War II.

Here, from the Leader (Melbourne) December 1917, are a few recipes for wartime home warriors.

THE KITCHEN.

WAR-TIME RECIPES.

Now that so many of the main foodstuffs are both scarce and dear, the following recipes will be found most useful for the worried housewife. The ingredients are nourishing, economical and easy to cook.

Dumplings.

Required: 4 oz. of flour, 2 oz. of barley flour, a good gill of milk, a pinch of salt, a teaspoonful of baking powder.

Make a batter with the milk and two flours three hours before the dish is required; then, just before cooking, add the salt and baking powder. Have ready a pan with fairly deep fat in it at boiling point, take a tablespoonful of the mixture and drop it in-the batter will form into a kind of dumpling and rise - cook a golden brown, drain on kitchen paper, and put on a hot dish. The sedumplings are delicious served with any kind of meat or by themselves with a nice brown gravy.

Savory Spaghetti.                                                                                           

Required: 6 oz. of spaghetti, 2 tablespoonfuls of grated cheese, a good walnut of butter, a large onion boiled and chopped, a little chopped tomato or tomato pulp, pepper and salt. Have ready some boiling salted water and drop the spaghetti in: boil until tender, drain. Into the saucepan put the butter, let it heat, toss the spaghetti into it, add the tomato pulp, chopped onions, and season to taste. Last of all, sprinkle in the cheese; heat, then serve the mixture very hot

Lentil Pasties.

Required: 4 oz. of boiled lentils, a nut of butter, a pinch of mace, a dessertspoonful of finely grated cheese, pepper, salt, short pastry.

Make the pastry by mixing 8 oz. of dripping into 6 oz. of flour, add a pinch of salt and half a teaspoonful of baking powder.

Mash the lentils up with a fork, add the cheese and seasonings, roll out the pastry thinly, cut into rounds; on each round put some of the mixture, fold over, wet the edges and pinch them together, bake a golden brown, and serve with brown gravy.

Nourishing Cheese Dish.

Required: 2 oz. of maize semolina, 2 oz. of grated cheese, a nut of butter, almost a pint of milk, 1 egg, pepper and salt. Stir the maize into the milk and cook for almost 10 minutes; then add the grated cheese and cook another five minutes, stirring all the time; season, and let the mixture cool a little, then add the beaten yolk of an egg. Whip up the white of egg stiffly, stir well into the rest of the ingredients. Pour all into a greased baking dish. Bake for half an hour and serve very hot.