Both my grandparents lived in the same town as we did and we regularly saw them, at least once a week. I loved eating at my grandparents’ as both grandmothers were great cooks. Certainly not the only reason I loved seeing them but I cherished good food from early childhood on. They also spoiled us grandchildren by endlessly (and patiently) playing board or card games with us.
I have a collection of handwritten recipes, I have to admit it is sometimes not so easy to decipher the old fashioned handwriting and the recipes themselves need adapting to our down scaled family size. No wonder they had tables the size of football fields.
Recipe Collection
One of my favourite is Aliba, an exquisite meat dish. The name does not mean anything and as a child I thought it to be called Ali Baba, I still feel like Ali Baba entering the 40 thieves’ den and discovering the treasure when I savour it.
It is easy to prepare and literally takes no time.
Aliba
Serves 4
Prep time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
800 g rump, 4 cm thick (ask your butcher to butterfly cut it)
For the filling
200 g minced rump
2 – 3 cloves garlic finely minced
1 bunch flat parsley finely minced
sea salt + pepper
Method
Mix the ingredients for the filling, go easy on the garlic, a ratio of 1:2 garlic and parsley works best in my experience.
Aliba ingredients
Evenly spread the filling
Generously scatter some coarse sea salt over it
Watch the timer: 3 – 4 minutes on a contact grill (can also be made in a searing grill pan or grill) if you want your meat rare, for a lovely criss-cross pattern turn it by 90° degrees after 2 minutes.
Ready to be cut
Cut up in 4 – 5 cm thick slices and serve with a green salad and potato crisps.
Tags: meat, beef
Comments 4
What stunning handwriting! I have never heard of this dish before, so thank you for sharing 🙂
tandysinclair Thank you, Tandy, there is a treasure chest of recipes sitting in my library and lovely childhood memories.
Oh wow Barbara – what a treasure, firstly to have known your grandparents so well (I only knew 2 of mine, and then only in very irregular visits as they lived far away. And secondly to have this recipe book! I’m intrigued by the recipe as I’ve never come across anything similar – definitely need to try it!
Cooksister Indeed, Jeanne, as children we took it for granted to have all our grandparents close by, I also remember family parties with close to 100 guests, I think it was my grandparents’ generation that hold together the family and ruled with a firm hand! As for the recipe book(s): they are cherished and kept in a safe place, waiting for me to decipher the recipes, try them out and share it with you!
Thanks, Jeanne, I just read your post about the O&O The Palms – drooling -have a lovely day!