Vegetable Tarts and Pies

Elizabeth Goose of Boston bestowed a great blessing upon American posterity when she induced her good man, Thomas Fleet, to publish, in 1719, "The Mother Goose Melodies," many of which rhymes dated back to a similar publication printed in London two hundred years before. Is it strange that, with this ancestral nursery training, the cry against the use of pastry goes unheeded, when as children, we, too, have sung to us, over and over, the songs of tarts and pies?

The word tart comes from the Latin word tortus, because tarts were originally in twisted shapes, and every country seems to have adopted them into their national menus. That they were toothsome in those early days is shown in these same nursery rhymes, and, that tarts seemed to have been relished by royalty and considered worthy of theft is evinced in the rhymes,

Again this ancient lore speaks of "Five and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie," and, too, there was that child wonder, "Little Jack Horner" who, with the same unerring instinct of a water wizard with a willow twig, could, by the sole means of his thumb, locate and extricate, upon the tip of the same, a plum from the Christmas pie.

American tarts and pies are in a class of their own. Pies were very closely allied to pioneer, and the Colonial housewife of early days was forced to concoct fillings out of sweetened vegetables, such as squash, sweet potatoes, and even some were made of vinegar. Yet the children still doted on these tempting tarts, pies and turnovers, for were they not trotted in babyhood on a

The next time you have a few varieties of vegetables left over, or wish a dainty luncheon side dish, try making a tray of vegetable tarts with various fillings, and they will prove as fascinating to choose from as a tray of French pastries.

While I have worked out these modern recipes in tempting ways of serving left-overs using common vegetables, I will lay all pastry honors to our fore-mothers, who passed on to us the art of pie-making. Proof as to the harmlessness of pies in diet is shown in the fine constitution of our American doughboy, who is certainly a great credit to the heritage of pastry handed down by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The moral of this discourse is that, "The child is father of the man," and men dote on pies.

Potato Tarts À la Gratin

Line round muffin pans with pastry circles as for other preserve tarts, and fill with the following:

Dice cold-boiled potatoes, season with salt and pepper, moisten with white sauce, made of two tablespoonfuls of flour, two tablespoonfuls of lard, one cup of milk, one-half a teaspoonful salt. Mix with this grated cheese. Fill the shells and sprinkle grated cheese on top. Bake a light brown.

Baked Onion Dumplings

Parboil medium-sized onions in salted water. Cut half way down in quarters, add salt, butter, and pepper. Place each on a square of biscuit dough or pastry, rolled thin. Bring together opposite corners, twist, and place in a moderate oven to bake the onion tender. Serve with white sauce.

Fresh Tomato Tart Salad

With a round cooky cutter make rounds of pastry. Cut an equal number with the doughnut cutter. Prick, sprinkle lightly with grated cheese and bake a light brown. Place a plain shell on a crisp lettuce leaf, add a slice of tomato, not larger, on top. Then pour on a little mayonnaise and place on top the tart shell with a hole in the center. Serve at once.

Green Tomato Mince Pie

One peck of green tomatoes, put through a food chopper. Boil, drain and add as much water as juice drained out. Scald and drain again. Add water as before, scald and redrain. This time add half as much water, then the following:—

Boil all together, and add one cup of vinegar. Cook till thick as desired. Put in jars and seal.

To one pint of this mixture add one cup of chopped apple and the juice and rind, grated or ground. Sweeten to taste, fill crust and bake as the usual mince pie.

Evaporated apples may be used, but grind before soaking and do not cook.

These pies will not harm children, and are very inexpensive, as compared to those made of mincemeat.

Plum Tomato Preserves Turnovers

Make a circle as big as a saucer, or a square equal in area. Fill the center with plum tomato preserve and fold over matching edges, either as a half circle, or a triangle. Prick and bake.

Turnovers are especially ideal as pies for fitting into lunch boxes, and may be made of any sweetened vegetable preserve for school lunches.

King Cabbage Tarts

Use cabbage, which has been boiled in salted water and seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. Make a white sauce and pour over, mixing well with the cabbage. Fill round muffin pans lined with pastry circles, sprinkle with cheese over the top and bake. Carrots may be used the same way, omitting the cheese and using latticed strips of pastry over the top. These will be hardly recognizable as such common vegetables.