The Land Girls Wartime Homity Pie

The Land Girls Wartime Homity Pie – Based on an authentic Wartime Recipe from a land girl in Devon, this Homity Pie is pure comfort food

Homity Pie – A Wartime Recipe also called Devon Pie

Today’s recipe for The Land Girls Wartime Homity Pie is one very close to my heart, as my late mother used to make it regularly, as I do too.

It’s a simple open pie recipe, as in a pie with no lid, that has a fascinating vintage history. The recipe is thought to have originated from The Land Girls, in Devon, during World War II.

It’s made with potatoes, leeks, onions, sometimes apples, and cheese, with fresh eggs or dried eggs, and is baked in a wholemeal pastry crust.

I have seen versions with spinach in the recipe too – basically, the recipe comes from an era where vegetables were used to bulk out food during strict rationing.

There are numerous recipes available, in books and online, but the recipe I am sharing today comes from notes of a Devon Land Girl, and the local WI.

The land girls of the Women’s Land Army, were volunteers who worked in agriculture, therefore filling the gap in the labour force left by men going to fight in both World Wars.

They worked long, hard hours on farms, small-holdings, with cattle, sheep and horses, in market gardens, as well as in the timber industry.

Logging and forestry work by Land Girls during World War II were handled by the Women’s Timber Corps (WTC), affectionately known as Lumber Jills.

But, back to today’s recipe for The Land Girls Wartime Homity Pie. Although I have increased the amount of cheese, fat and eggs used, I have not added cream etc, as some modern recipes have suggested.

The recipe is very similar to the one that the wholefood Cranks Vegetarian Restaurant in London made, and which launched this overlooked wartime recipe back into national popularity.

So, what’s in a name? Legend has it that the name “homity” derives from the acronym “HOw Many In Takes Today?” a question the Land Girls were asked to ensure they consumed enough calories to sustain their strenuous work.

Whatever the name, it’s always been a big favourite in our family, and as I mentioned before, my mother used to make it regularly, as she and my father were vegetarian in the latter part of their lives.

I have used a half and half recipe for the wholemeal pastry case, as it’s a bit more forgiving when sliced – pure wholemeal pastry is very crumbly.

However, I will share the original wholemeal pastry recipe in the recipe card notes. I used extra mature Cheddar cheese, as it is so strong, you need less of it to add the cheesy flavour.

Once made, this pie keeps well in the fridge for several days, and can be reheated very easily in an air-fryer, or in a conventional oven. It is also lovely when eaten cold too, especially for a picnic.

I hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as we do, and please do leave me a comment below if you make it, or if you need any tips. Karen

Typical Weekly Rations for an Adult

• Bacon & Ham 4 oz
• Other meat to the value of 1 shilling and 2 pence (equivalent to 2 chops)
• Butter 2 oz
• Cheese 2 oz
• Margarine 4 oz
• Cooking fat 4 oz
• Milk 3 pints
• Sugar 8 oz
• Preserves 1 lb every 2 months
• Tea 2 oz
• Eggs 1 fresh egg (plus allowance of dried egg)
• Sweets 12 oz every 4 weeks

Ingrdients for The Land Girls Wartime Homity Pie

• Pastry:
• 150g wholemeal flour
• 150g plain white flour
• 100g dripping, margarine, lard or butter
• Salt, to taste
• Water
• Filling:
• 350g potatoes, scrubbed and diced into small cubes (no need to peel)
• 25g dripping, oil, lard, margarine or butter
• 2 leeks, cleaned, and finely diced
• 1 onion, peeled and diced
• 1 bunch spring onions, trimmed and diced (or chives in season)
• 2 – 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
• Fresh or dried thyme
• 150g extra mature Cheddar cheese, grated
• 2 eggs, beaten with a tablespoon milk
• Salt and white pepper, to taste

Cooking Notes

• Use any regional cheese to taste, such as Wensleydale, Cheshire, Lancashire, Double Gloucester, Red Leicester or Caerphilly cheese.
• Use red onions in place of yellow onions.
• For added piquancy, add 1/2 teaspoon of English mustard power to the filling.
• Wholemeal Pastry:
• 300g wholemeal flour
• 100g margarine, lard or butter
• Salt, to taste
• Water
• Mix flour and salt in basin, rub in the butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Using a knife to cut and stir, mix with cold water to form a stiff dough.
• Do not over mix, light of hand is best.
• Allow pastry dough to chill and “relax” for 30 minutes, in a fridge or a cool place, cover the bowl or put the pastry in some cling film.

More Wartime Recipes

• Ration Book Cheese Pie
• Whit Salad
• The Oslo Meal (Oslo Breakfast)

• Old-Fashioned Ovaltine Tea Loaf
• Wartime Date and Walnut Loaf
• Wartime Syrup Tart (Treacle Tart)

The Women’s Land Army Recruitment Adverts

A Women’s Land Army Cook Book

The Women’s Land Army Posters

The Land Girls Wartime Homity Pie Recipe

Personal Family Note:

My later mother-in-law was a local Land Girl in East Yorkshire. As she had a young family, she lived at home and was sent to different farms, as and when she was needed.

Gallery

Poster of a land girl by Laura Knight

Date1939–1946Catalogue reference INF 3/108

This painting by British artist Dame Laura Knight was commissioned by the Ministry of Information to be used to publicise the Women’s Land Army. Its medium is watercolour, gouache and charcoal and it depicts a woman ploughing a field with two horses. Laura Knight had direct experience of working on farms gained during the First World War, so she knew the subject well.

She had clear opinions on how land girls should be presented in order to promote their work most effectively. In a letter about the commission she wrote: ‘That there should be one girl only with the plough is important, for it seems that farmers will not engage girls as a rule for that work as it is considered too expensive because they say it take 2 girls to work in place of one man, but there are girls such as this one who can manage a plough on her own, and she cuts as straight a furrow as any man.’