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Lentil Rissoles
Boil a quarter of a pound of lentils till quite tender; mash them, and pass through a wire sieve. Add half an ounce of butter, season with pepper, salt, and nutmeg, and moisten with stock. Roll some pastry as thin as possible, and cut it into rounds; into each put a little of the mixture, fold it over, wet the edges and stick together. Egg and bread-crumb the rissoles, or egg them and sprinkle them with vermicelli broken in tiny pices. Fry them in deep fat and serve hot.
A meatless fried pastry from Cassell's, straightforward once the filling is right. Almost everything depends on how wet you make the lentil paste.
- Keep the filling stiffMoisten with stock only until the mash holds together in a ball — a tablespoon or two at most. A loose filling steams inside the pastry, bursts the seam and turns the fat into foam.
- Quantities in modern termsA quarter of a pound of lentils is about 115g dry, which cooks up to roughly 1½ cups. Half an ounce of butter is one tablespoon.
- Which lentilsSplit red or yellow lentils collapse to a purée in 20-25 minutes and suit this best. Whole brown or green lentils hold their shape and will fight the sieve; if you use them, cook them soft and expect to work harder.
- The sieveA wire sieve pressed with a wooden spoon was the Victorian purée machine. A potato ricer, food mill or a few pulses in a processor does the same job; with split lentils you can often just mash well and skip it.
- PastryThe book does not say which pastry; an ordinary shortcrust rolled very thin will serve. Cut 3-inch rounds, fill sparingly, and seal the damp edges firmly — press with a fork if the seam looks doubtful.
- Frying temperatureThe book assumes you judge the fat by eye. Use 350-360F: hot enough to set the crust before the pastry soaks, cool enough that the crumb or vermicelli does not scorch before the inside heats through. Three to four minutes, turning once.
- The vermicelli coatingDried vermicelli broken into short splinters gives a spiky, crisp shell, but fine pasta colours fast — keep to the lower end of the frying range and lift the rissoles as soon as they are deep gold.
- YieldAbout twelve small rissoles, enough for four as a savoury course or two as a light supper with a sharp sauce or chutney.
Rissole came into English kitchens from French, where it is generally traced to an older word for something browned or reddened by frying, and by the nineteenth century it covered almost any small fried croquette or turnover, meat or otherwise. Lentils were cheap, kept indefinitely in a dry store, and gave a substantial mouthful without butcher's meat, so they served both the economical household and the Friday or Lenten table. Note too that the mixture is sieved to a smooth paste.