Kitchen Matters

Mrs. Alis Ashqar is one of the ladies of our refined society, an expert in household and cooking matters, and we are pleased that she has consented to nourish this section of the magazine — something we lacked in the past...

Every month Mrs. Ashqar will present her tried and tested recipes for cooking and sweets, which will be of great benefit to our readers.

Today we have one cooking recipe and another of the sweet kind, and both are useful for the holidays...

With a fork, mix two uqiyyas of ground veal and half a cup of milk with a tablespoon of finely chopped onion, a teaspoon of salt, a quarter teaspoon of allspice, and a little finely minced parsley.

Put this mixture into a mold greased with butter and bake it in a moderate oven for one hour; then turn it out onto a flat platter and set around it a ring of vegetables — string beans, peas, and carrots — and around this ring a ring of browned potatoes. Garnish it with minced parsley and serve it hot.

Mix the meat gravy that remains in the mold, after the meat has been turned out onto the platter, with two spoonfuls of flour; and if it is thick, thin it with a little milk.

Ingredients:

Sugar — 3 tablespoons
Flour — 1 1/2 tablespoons
Salt — 1/8 teaspoon
Milk — 3 cups
Egg yolks — 3
Vanilla — 1/2 teaspoon
Chocolate pieces — one cup

Method:

Mix the sugar, flour, and salt and stir it slowly while you add the milk. Put this mixture in a casserole set in a vessel of water and boil it over a moderate fire until it thickens slightly, keeping up the stirring; then take it off the fire.

Beat the egg yolks lightly and pour over them a quarter cup of the hot mixture; stir it well and return it to the mixture in the casserole, and boil it for two minutes, stirring. Add the vanilla after taking it off the fire.

Pour half the quantity of this mixture into a dish; then to the other half add the chocolate pieces and stir them until they melt. Cool both mixtures until lukewarm.

Pour half of the vanilla mixture into a glass dish and set ladyfingers in a circle around the custard, letting the tips of the fingers slip in under the custard; then add a layer of fingers on top of the custard and sprinkle over it two spoonfuls of rum or sherry.

Spread a layer of the chocolate mixture over the fingers and cover it with crumbled almond macaroons; cover that with the remainder of the vanilla custard and another layer of fingers, sprinkle on the rest of the rum or sherry, and cover it with a final layer of the chocolate mixture.

Cover this mold with waxed paper and put it in the refrigerator for 6–8 hours. Before serving, garnish it with whipped cream. (This recipe serves eight persons.)