HOME INTERESTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3339, 13 March 1918, Page 52

HOME INTERESTS.

SHORT CAKES. ! Rub Jib of margarine into lib of dry flour, sfb of sugar, one beaten egg, and enough milk to make all of a nice smooth paste. Roll the paste out very thin. Then cut the paste out with the top of a wineglass, place upon floured tins, strew "sugar over each one, set in a good oven, and bake for 10 minutes. Yon may ice the tops if liked if the cakes are wanted for a speoial oocasion ; but for everyday consumption they are bstter left plain. !: MUSTARD SAUCE FOR STEAK. Chop up two- onions and fry them in butter until they become brown. Thicken w'ith a little flour, and add a pint of gravy. Season with- pepper and salt, and simmer the sauce for a quarter of an hour. Then' mix .a dessert spoonful of mustard with the juice of a lemon. Boil all together for a few minutes, and pour the sauce round the steak. DATE AND NUT PUDDING. ■ Required Half a pound of dates, 2oz of flour, - 3oz of barley flour, 2oz of chopped suet, 2oz of chopped or grated nuts, two tablespoonfuls of syrup or treacle, two rounded teaspoonfuls of egg-powder, one teaSpoonful of baking-powder: Stone and chop the dates, mix them with the flours, suet, nuts, and the eggs and baking-powders. Stir in. the syrup, warming it a little if the weather is coid and it is very stiff. Should the whole seem a very stiff mass when mixed add a little milk; it should be moist enough to drop heavily from the spoon. Turn it all into a well-greased basin, twist a piece of greased paper over the top, and stand it in a saucepan with boiling water to come halfway up the basin. Steam it steadily for three hours. It can be done over boiling vegetables or other foods if you possess a Bteamer that will fit over the saucepan. When cooked turn out the pudding carefully, and serve with a hot custard sauce prepared with custard-powder. ORANGE ROCKS, Beat 3oz of butter to a cream with 6oz of sifted sugar, add to it the well-beaten yolks of two eggs, and the grated rind of an orange; next add lib of flour, mixed with a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of bakingpowder. Mix thoroughly with a'little milk, and then add the whites of the whisked to a firm froth,' and mixed with the juice of the orange. Bake in rough lumps on a greased baking sheet for 25 to 30 minutes. MEAT AND TOMATO CAKES. Required: One pound of raw lean meat, Jib of ripe tomatoes, Jib of maehed potato, one teaspoonful of chopped onion, salt, pepper, fine oatmeal,' frying fat. Dip the tomatoes into boiling water, then peel them. Sometimes, if they ore perfectly ripe, the skin can bo removed without first scalding them. Wipe the meat with a clean, damp cloth, then chop it finely, or pass it through the mincing machine. Put the meat, crushed or chopped tomatoes, potato, onion, and seasoning to taste in a basin and mix thoroughly. If too dry add a little stock or another tomato; if too moist to handle easily mix in more potato or a little of the oatmeal. Shape the mixture into little round, flat oakes about the size of the top of a ■tumbler, and Jin thick. To shape them, dust the pn.stry-boa.rd, knife, and your hand with some oatmeal, or they will stick to the mixture. When neatly shaped roll each well in fine oatmeal, and fry in hot fat. RHUBARB AND FIG JAM. Wash and cut up small Gib of good firm rhubarb; wash and cut up finely lib of figs and cut up finely a-100 Jib of either lemon or orange peel. Put these prepared fruits ynto a large basin with 51b of sugar. Next day boil rapidly for three-quarters of an hour. RHUBARB AND DATE JAM. "Wipe 31b of good firm rhubarb and cut it into short lengths. "Wash Jib of elates in hot water, stone, and chop them. Put these into a basm in alternate layers, with 31b of sugar, and allow to soak overnight. Next day boil rapidly for half an hour, stirring often. RHUBARB AND APRICOT. Wipe slb of rhubarb and leave it to steep iin 41b of sugar overnight. Cut up an apricot elly square, and boil the whole rapidly for ialf an hour.