One-room cookery

4 gill vegetable stock ; seasoning ; meat extract for flavouring. Melt the cooking fat and brown the chopped onion in it. Add the flour and allow to brown without burning. Add the stock carefully and stir till the mixture boils. Add the flavouring to the meat and then stir into the onion mixture. Beat the margarine and milk into the cooked potato, heating through thoroughly. Put the meat mixture into a pie dish and cover with the potato. Dot with a few dabs of margarine and brown under the grill. TOAD-IN-THE-HOLE Utensils required : basin, Yorkshire pudding tin. 4 oz. flour ; 1 oz. dripping ; pinch salt ; % pint milk ; 8 oz. sausages ; 1 egg. Sieve the flour and the salt into a basin. Add the egg and a little of the milk. Gradually beat in the flour from the sides of the basin and add the rest of the milk. Beat the batter thoroughly and allow to stand as long as possible. Heat the dripping in a Yorkshire pudding tin, pour in the batter, then arrange the skinned sausages neatly in the batter. Bake in a hot oven for ? hour. 20 ls Where cooking time and space are limited, it is better to concentrate on cooking a savoury dish and have fresh or tinned fruit, or biscuits and cheese, or occasionally a bought pastry, as a second course. If you like hot sweets, concentrate on the type that can be quickly prepared, such as fritters or sweet omelettes or hot stewed fruit. Small steamed puddings can be bought ready prepared in tins, or in packets that merely require the addition of liquid. With an oven you will, of course, be able to make pastry, milk puddings, etc., though these will take longer to prepare. Many cold sweets, such as blancmanges, jellies, fruit salads and whips, junkets and small trifles, can be prepared the day before and kept well covered in a cool place ready for when you come in the following evening. Here are a few recipes for sweets which are simply prepared. STRAWBERRY JUNKET Utensils required : saucepan, glass dish. 1 pint milk ; 1 teaspoon sugar; a little pink colouring ; 1 teaspoon rennet ; strawberry jam. Put the jam in the bottom of a glass dish. Warm the milk to blood heat, add the sugar, colouring and rennet. Stir and pour over the jam. Leave to set. PRUNE WHIP Utensils required : basin, whisk, glass dish. 4 teacup sieved stewed prunes ; %4 tablespoon marmalade ; 3 tablespoon sugar ; few drops lemon flavouring ; 2 tablespoons evaporated milk. Slightly heat the prunes, marmalade and sugar; add the flavouring, then turn the mixture into a basin. Whip the evaporated milk, add to the prune mixture and whisk all together till fluffy. Put into a glass dish and decorate to taste. 21 EGGLESS FRITTERS Utensils required : basin, frying pan. 4 oz. plain flour ; 2 oz. sultanas ; 4 pint milk ; 1 teaspoon baking powder. Sieve together flour and baking powder and mix with the milk to a smooth batter. Chop the sultanas and add to the batter. Fry in tablespoonfuls in shallow fat ; when brown on one side, turn and brown on the other. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and serve. If you have a little more time to spare, try ... PANCAKES