Parham ‘droom’

On 12th May 1943, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress’ began arriving at RAF Framingham in Parham. The airfield would be designated as Station 153 by the USAAF. These first aircraft were not from the 390th Bomb Group which occupied the base for most of its operational history, but from the 95th Bomb Group. The 95th flew their first mission from Parham a day later to bomb an airfield in Saint-Omer in Northern France. After some disastrous missions the 95th were relocated to Horham to ‘re-group’.

I often marvel at the bravery of those poor young men who lost their lives flying from a foreign country to bomb another foreign country, without question. My claim to fame is that I have landed at Parham, not in a B-17 but a Cessna 172, and have been on the runway in a Spitfire, not the Supermarine kind but the Triumph kind, when learning to drive in the early seventies!

This is a wartime recipe called Lord Woolton Pie (I have kept imperial measures for authenticity).

1lb cauliflower
1lb parsnips
1lb carrots
1lb potatoes
Bunch of spring onions chopped
2 teaspoons of Marmite (yeast extract – or you can use a stock cube)
Tablespoon of rolled oats
Salt and pepper to taste once cooked.
Parsley (fresh or dried)

For the pastry

8oz wholemeal/wholewheat flour
4oz mashed potato
3oz margarine or lard
2 tsp of baking powder
couple large pinches of salt
Dash of water if needed.

Method

Chop up the vegetables into chunks with those that take longest to cook into smaller pieces. Place in pot and bring to simmer with just enough water to reach 3/4 of the way up the veg in the pot. Add in Marmite and rolled oats, salt and pepper and cook until tender and most of the water has been absorbed. Place mixture in deep pie dish and sprinkle with parsley . Make the pastry by mixing the flour with the baking powder and salt and then rubbing in the margarine. Mix the mashed potato in to form a dough and knead (add a little water to the mixture if too dry) Roll out to form pie crust and place on top and decorate then brush with milk. Place in oven at 200C for 30 minutes or so until top is form and browned.

Enjoy! ~ Chris