Myrtle Bagot's Pages Part 4 - Green Pea Puffs

Myrtle Bagot’s Pages

Chatelaine of Milford Station buffet explains all about our mid 20^th century diet.

4. The Tawny Pipit (1944)

It’s that time of year again. Time to hitch up your skirts, squat over a bowl and shell a few peas.

Mr Godby and I were watching a lovely film called “The Tawny Pipit” which is all about a rare bird taking up residence in a perfect English village.  Now, Mr Godby says to me, “You’re a rare bird yourself, Mrs Bagot, do you ever feel like going all rural and settling in the country?”

Well, I had to say to him, “No Mr Godby, I don’t. There are very few country railway stations that have a substantial buffet, and what would my life be without somewhere to sell my Bath buns? No, you can keep your countryside for day trips and films.”

But I was taken back by a scene in “The Tawny Pipit” where dear old Katie Johnson sits in her garden shelling peas. My old mother used to do much the same because living on the canal bank we used to have room for a few rows of peas. Every summer, there she would sit, popping away, the little green peas landing in the chamber pot where she normally kept her aspidistra. I did like the fresh peas. But I used to try and get to a few before she boiled them for 20 minutes and shovelled in half a pound of salt. Well, when you’ve left them in the pod for too long they can go a bit hard.

Here’s another recipe to disguise hard peas from Silvester’s Sensible Cookery:

Green Pea Puffs

¼ lb Cooked green peas

½ lb Mashed potatoes

1oz Margarine

1 egg

Pepper and salt

Add cooked peas to mashed potatoes, seasonings and egg; mix and place on a greased tin in rocky pieces, and bake 20 minutes.

That should obliterate them nicely.

Update:

Martin Allen (Twitter & Instagram: @martinallen72) kindly gave the Pea Puffs a whirl and reported the results.

Really rather fine. A bit mid-20th century bland - tastes as you’d expect, mash and peas. Not sure what the egg did but it was in there. Will definitely make again!

So now we know! Possible additions include cheese and spring onions. I feel Mr Godby would approve of that.

There’s gardening, village intrigue and prefabs in my novella “Temporary Accommodation”. It’s as cheap as marrowfat peas. Click here for some gentle summer reading