Simple Chicken Salad or an Easy Gazpacho for the Warm Weather

Dear SOS: Liberace’s Tivoli Gardens restaurant in Las Vegas has an excellent chicken salad. Can you obtain the recipe?

--BEA

Dear Bea: It’s a simple salad served at Liberace’s restaurant with croissants or sandwich bread.

LIBERACE’S CHICKEN SALAD

2 cups diced cooked chicken

1 stalk celery, diced

1 small onion, diced

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon curry powder

Salt

Croissants or sandwich bread

Combine chicken, celery, onion, mayonnaise, thyme, pepper and curry powder. Season to taste with salt. Serve with croissant or sandwich bread. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Dear SOS: The Velvet Turtle in Buena Park serves delicious gazpacho. Do you think the chef will share the recipe?

--MRS. H.E.L.

Dear Mrs. H.E.L.: The recipe, which has appeared in the “Los Angeles Times California Cookbook” (Abrams: $25, hardcover; New American Library: $9.95, paperback), is typical of the Los Angeles-style gazpacho. A refreshing soup for a summery day.

VELVET TURTLE GAZPACHO

1 (46-ounce) can tomato juice

1 medium green pepper, minced

1 small onion, minced

1 cucumber, peeled and minced

2 small canned green chiles, minced

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon seasoning blend

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped chives

2 drops hot pepper sauce

Salt, white pepper

Lemon wedges

Combine tomato juice, green pepper, onion, cucumber, chiles, Worcestershire, seasoning blend, garlic, olive oil, chives and hot pepper sauce. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Chill thoroughly. Serve with lemon wedges. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Dear SOS: I would like to know the recipe for a luscious Shaker Lemon Pie we had while visiting in Berkeley, Calif. The filling resembled marmalade complete with lemon peel, yet was quite zesty and tangy. It was baked in a pastry shell with a lattice top.

--JO

Dear Jo: It so happens we have a recipe for Shaker Lemon Pie that you described having had at a restaurant. The recipe comes from a charming restaurant in the restored village of Shakertown, a one-time Shaker settlement in Pleasantville, Ky. (a great place to visit, by the way). The lemon slices take on a texture and taste of preserves.

SHAKER LEMON PIE

2 large lemons

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, well beaten

Pastry for 2-crust pie

Slice lemons paper thin, including peel. Combine with sugar and mix well. Let stand at least 2 hours or preferably overnight, mixing occasionally. Fold in beaten eggs, mixing well. Arrange slices evenly in 9-inch pie shell. Cover with top crust. Cut several slits near center. Bake at 450 degrees 15 minutes. Reduce heat and bake at 375 degrees 20 minutes longer or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool before serving. Makes 1 (9-inch) pie.

Dear SOS: I have been looking for a recipe printed in 1966 or 1967 for cheese enchiladas whereby the tortillas are dipped into sour cream at one point in the recipe. Please, please, tell me what hoops I must jump through to acquire this recipe.

--JACQUELINE

Dear Jacqueline: One, two, three . . . jump. There. You’ve jumped the hoop and now you can have the recipe described.

SOUR CREAM ENCHILADAS

1 large onion, chopped

1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles

Oil

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

8 corn tortillas

1 cup sour cream

Milk or whipping cream

3/4 pound Jack cheese, shredded

Cook onion and chiles in 2 tablespoons oil until onion is tender but not browned. Add tomato sauce and heat. Soften tortillas by heating each a few moments in oil in skillet. Drain, then dip tortillas in sour cream thinned with a little milk or cream.

Place some of tomato mixture on each tortilla. Top with some of cheese. Roll and place, seam side down, in single layer in 10x6-inch baking dish. Dot remaining tomato mixture over enchiladas, then spread with remaining sour cream and cover with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees 20 minutes. Makes 8 enchiladas.

Dear SOS: Many fiction stories based in Britain make reference to the British meat pie called a “pastie” or something like that. I was able to experience them only one time and at a most unlikely place in San Francisco. I mistakenly thought that obtaining a recipe would be an easy task, but I have not been able to find one yet.

--JOHN

Dear John: You have now. Here is a classic recipe for Cornish Pasties, a meat turnover said to have originated with miners who carried convenient pasties to work for lunch.

CORNISH PASTIES

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

1/4 pound ground beef

1 1/2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 beef bouillon cube

1/4 cup water

1 cup diced raw potatoes

1/2 cup sliced raw carrots

2 tablespoons finely chopped onions

2 (11-ounce) packages pie crust mix

Melt butter in skillet. Add meat and cook, stirring, until lightly browned. Add flour, salt, seasoned salt and parsley. Mix well. Dissolve bouillon cube in water. Add to meat mixture. Cook and stir until mixture thickens. Add potatoes, carrots and onions. Cover and cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until vegetables are partially tender. Cool.

Prepare pie crust mixes according to package directions. Roll out each on lightly floured board into 12-inch square. Cut each into 4 (6-inch) squares. Divide cooled meat mixture among 8 squares, placing meat in corner of each and to one side of center. Moisten edges of pastry, fold over meat and press edges together to form triangle. Slash tops with knife, making 1-inch opening. Place on baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Makes 8 pasties.

Only recipes of general interest will be printed. We are unable to answer all requests. Please include restaurant address when requesting recipes from restaurants. Send your letter with self-addressed, stamped envelope to Culinary SOS, Food Section, The Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.