Cookery for every household

Prepare some ripe pumpkin in the same way as above and cut it in thin slices. Peel and slice thinly the same quantity of sour and juicy apples. Put the pumpkin and apple into a pie dish with sugar to taste and a small quantity of mixed spice, or if preferred a little grated lemon rind. Pile the mixture rather high in the centre of the pie dish and pour in just a very little water. Now cover the pie with short crust or other pastry as directed on p. 355, brush it over with white of egg or water, dredge with castor sugar and bake in a good oven until the pastry is well browned and cooked, and the apple and pumpkin soft. Serve hot with some good cream. Note. — This is a very good combination, as the tart flavour of the apples brings out the flavour of the pumpkin. 1525. Rhubarb and Fig Tart 2 lbs. rhubarb. 4 lb. figs. [ 4 tea-sp. ground ginger. 1 cupful sugar. " I Pastry. Soak the figs for a short time in hot water, then cut them in small pieces, removing the stalks and any discoloured parts. Wash the rhubarb well, peel it if necessary, and cut it in short lengths. Arrange the two kinds of fruit in a pie dish, sprinkling them with the sugar and ginger. Pile the fruit high in the centre of the dish and press it well together, as it sinks so much in cooking. Then cover with pastry and bake in the usual way (see above). Note. — Dates may be used instead of figs ; they must be stoned and cut in pieces. Time to bake, £ to 1 hour. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. Probable cost. Is. 1526. Mixed Fruit Tart (Summer) Take equal quantities of strawberries, raspberries, and red currants, and pick them all carefully. Mix them together and then arrange them in a pie dish, adding white moist or castor sugar to taste. Cover with pastry and bake as directed on p. 355. Other kinds of fruit may also be used, according to what is in season, the greater variety the better. 1527. Mixed Fruit Tart (Winter)- 1 lb. cranberries. I £ lb. sugar. 4 or 5 apples. 1 4 pt. water. 4 lb. prunes. | Short crust. Wash the prunes, and if time permits soak them for some time, in the half pint of water. Pick and wash the cranberries, and peel and slice the apples thinly. Put the three kinds of fruit into a lined stewpan with the water and stew them slowly foxhalf an hour. Then add the sugar and stew for half an hour longer, breaking down the cranberries with the back of a wooden spoon. Pour the fruit into a pie dish just large enough to hold it, remove the stones from the prunes and let the mixture cool. Then cover with short crust and bake as directed above. Time to bake, 4 hour. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Probable cost. Is. 4 d. Fruit Puddings See under Hot Puddings, p. 402. VARIOUS TARTS AND FLANS 1528. Open Jam Tart Pastry. Jam. Almost any kind of pastry may be used for this. Short crust or puff pastry is perhaps the best. An open tart may be made in two different ways — (1) The pastry case made and baked and the jam put into it afterwards ; or (2) The jam baked with the pastry.