Prepare a vegetable mixture in the same way as for Vegetable Croquettes (Recipe 600), only make it rather moister with a nice creamy sauce. Heat this mixture gently in a small saucepan over the fire. Prepare also some small patty cases, and have them nicely baked and warm. Fill them with the vegetable mixture, piling it rather high in the centre, put on the little lids of pastry, and garnish with small sprigs of parsley. PART III SWEET DISHES WITH PASTRY FRUIT PIES AND TARTS To Prepare the Fruit Almost any kind of fruit may be used for a fruit tart, or a mixture of fruit if preferred. All fruit must be carefully prepared. Apples — peeled, cored, and cut in thin slices. Rhubarb — washed, peeled (unless very young), and cut in small pieces. Plums — washed and stoned if possible. Gooseberries — topped and tailed and well washed. Currants and other Berries — freed from stalks and washed. A combination of fruits is often preferable to one kind alone, especially if the kind used is either lacking in flavour or too acid. The following combinations are recommended : cranberries and apples, damsons and bananas or apples, black- berries and apples, raspberries and red currants, gooseberries and black currants, black currants and rhubarb, cherries and rhubarb, &c. Then in summer, when fruit is in full season, a mixture of several kinds together makes a delicious tart. PASTRY AND PASTRY DISHES 355 A little water or fruit juice is usually added unless the fruit is of a very juicy nature. Bottled and Tinned Fruits will be found very useful for making tarts when fresh fruit is un- obtainable, or too expensive. If preserved in a syrup extra sugar may not then be necessary, and too much of the liquid must not be used. The question of additional flavouring is very much a matter of taste. A little grated orange or lemon rind may be mixed with advantage with many fruits, whilst a little ground spice or a few cloves is a favourite addition to a tart made of apples. A warning should, however, be given to some cooks against an overdose of cloves — 3 or 4 in a medium -sized tart is quite sufficient. The fruit must be packed into a pie dish in layers with sugar, the amount of the latter being regulated according to the acidity of the fruit and individual taste. The last layer should be fruit, as sugar directly below the crust is apt to discolour it. Pile the fruit high in the centre and away from the sides of the dish. Sometimes an egg-cup or small funnel is put in the centre of the pie dish to retain the juice. To Cover the Tart Short crust is perhaps the most suitable kind of pastry to use for a fruit tart, but one of the more flaky kinds may be taken if preferred. The quantity of short crust given in Recipe 1439 will be sufficient to cover a tart for 4 or 5 persons.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Prepare a vegetable mixture in the same way as for Vegetable Croquettes (Recipe 600), only make it rather moister with a nice creamy sauce. Heat this mixture gently in a small saucepan over the fire. Prepare also some small patty cases, and have them nicely baked and warm. Fill them with the vegetable mixture, piling it rather high in the centre, put on the little lids of pastry, and garnish with small sprigs of parsley. SWEET DISHES WITH PASTRY FRUIT PIES AND TARTS To Prepare the Fruit Almost any kind of fruit may be used for a fruit tart, or a mixture of fruit if preferred. All fruit must be carefully prepared. Apples — peeled, cored, and cut in thin slices. Rhubarb — washed, peeled (unless very young), and cut in small pieces. Plums — washed and stoned if possible. Gooseberries — topped and tailed and well washed. Currants and other Berries — freed from stalks and washed. A combination of fruits is often preferable to one kind alone, especially if the kind used is either lacking in flavour or too acid. The following combinations are recommended : cranberries and apples, damsons and bananas or apples, blackberries and apples, raspberries and red currants, gooseberries and black currants, black currants and rhubarb, cherries and rhubarb, &c. Then in summer, when fruit is in full season, a mixture of several kinds together makes a delicious tart. A little water or fruit juice is usually added unless the fruit is of a very juicy nature. Bottled and Tinned Fruits will be found very useful for making tarts when fresh fruit is unobtainable, or too expensive. If preserved in a syrup extra sugar may not then be necessary, and too much of the liquid must not be used. The question of additional flavouring is very much a matter of taste. A little grated orange or lemon rind may be mixed with advantage with many fruits, whilst a little ground spice or a few cloves is a favourite addition to a tart made of apples. A warning should, however, be given to some cooks against an overdose of cloves — 3 or 4 in a medium -sized tart is quite sufficient. The fruit must be packed into a pie dish in layers with sugar, the amount of the latter being regulated according to the acidity of the fruit and individual taste. The last layer should be fruit, as sugar directly below the crust is apt to discolour it. Pile the fruit high in the centre and away from the sides of the dish. Sometimes an egg-cup or small funnel is put in the centre of the pie dish to retain the juice. To Cover the Tart Short crust is perhaps the most suitable kind of pastry to use for a fruit tart, but one of the more flaky kinds may be taken if preferred. The quantity of short crust given in Recipe 1439 will be sufficient to cover a tart for 4 or 5 persons.

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