  A SUNDAY NIGHT TEA "STIR this chicken a la king a moment for me, will you, Ruth?" said Bettina. "I'll warm the plates in the oven." "What is that brown paper for?" "To put under the dishes I'm warming. It breaks the heat and prevents cracking. There, that cream sauce has cooked enough now. I'll take it and beat it for a minute. See? There, now it's ready for the egg and the chicken mixture." "Shall I stir it now? Don't you put it back over the fire?" "Just for a minute. You see, if any custard or egg sauce is allowed to cook more than a minute after the egg has been added, it will curdle." "Oh, is it done now? Let me toast the bread for it, will you, Bettina? I like to make cunning little light brown triangles." "I hope I have made enough of this chicken a la king." "For eight people? I'm sure that you have, Bettina. Even for people with as good appetites as Fred and I have! Are you ready to serve it now?" That Sunday evening Bettina served: BETTINA'S RECIPES (All measurements are level) Chicken a la King (Eight portions) 1½ C-cold boiled chicken, cut in 2/3-inch cubes ½ t-salt 1/3 C-button mushrooms, cut in fourths 4 T-pimento, cut in half-inch lengths 2 T-green pepper, cut fine 5 T-butter or chicken fat 6 T-flour 1½ t-salt ½ t-paprika 2 C-milk 2 egg-yolks 8 pieces of toast Boil the green pepper slowly for five minutes. Drain off the water. Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and paprika, mix thoroughly, and add the milk, stirring constantly. Cook three minutes or until quite thick. Remove from the fire, beat one minute, reheat, add the egg-yolk, mix thoroughly, and add the chicken mixture. Heat again. Serve immediately by pouring over slices of toast. To prepare the chicken mixture, thoroughly mix the chicken, half a teaspoon of salt, the mushrooms, the cooked green pepper and the pimento. Small Cakes (Fourteen cakes) 1¼ C-sugar 1/3 C-butter 2 C-flour 4 t-baking powder 1/8 t-salt 2/3 C-milk 1 t-vanilla ½ t-lemon extract 2 egg-whites Cream the butter, add the sugar slowly and continue creaming. Mix and sift the flour, baking powder and salt and add these and the milk, vanilla and lemon extracts to the butter and sugar. Mix well and beat two minutes. Beat the egg-whites till very stiff and fold these very carefully into the cake mixture. When thoroughly mixed, fill the cake pans (which have been prepared with waxed paper) two-thirds of an inch deep with the mixture. Bake twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven, allow to stand five minutes, then slip a knife around the edges and remove Bettina Icing 1 egg-white 1 T-cream 1 t-vanilla ½ t-lemon extract 2 C-powdered sugar Beat the egg-white add part of the sugar. Add the cream, vanilla and lemon extracts. Keep beating. Add the rest of the sugar gradually. (A little more sugar may be needed.) Beat the icing till very fluffy and until it will spread without running off the cake. Spread each layer. |
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