Chicken Kibbee

In recent times my study has been turned into an airplane cockpit. One minute I am sitting in a jumbo jet about to land at Hong Kong airport, the next I am swooping down onto the lawn of the White House to collect the President. The men in the family have commandeered my other computer and are learning how to fly, thanks to a flight simulator programme.

Having been brought up on air force bases, I have a certainly nostalgia for the planes that were a background to my early life. From time to time the lads go out to the real airport nearby and watch some of the large planes come in from overseas. At times like that, I sneak a little flight myself. I have discovered driving a car does not equip one to fly a plane.

There I was trying to get a Bristol Freighter airborne the other day and feedback from the screen told me I was stalling my engine. I took an outside view of the plane to see what I was doing and discovered I was aiming it straight up into space. The old freighters were never meant to fly like that. I was no more successful in the helicopter. For some reason I could only fly it backwards.

Living life on the edge is all very well, but I have to come back to earth and keep the troops fed. Currently we have a full house with the second son home for university holidays. Having got used to cooking for two, I had to get back to cooking for four for a couple of weeks.

Some of the old family favourites have been on the menu, along with a few new dishes.

Kibbee is a Lebanese dish that the family enjoys. Usually I make it with lamb mince. I remember our Lebanese neighbours use to get a leg of lamb, remove all the meat and run it through the mincer to make their kibbee. These days the supermarkets stocks all varieties of minced meat including beef, lamb, pork and chicken. For a change I decided to use minced chicken.

Kibbee can be served hot or cold. I like to serve it with a tossed salad. I think it needs some sort of a sauce so I usually make a yoghurt based dish to go with it - sometimes yoghurt, a little tahini (a sesame seed paste), some lemon juice and chopped mint, sometimes a mix of yoghurt and drained, grated cucumber with a dash of garlic.

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