Cookery for every household

To Finish. — When the pastry is cooked, remove the paper, &c., and slip off the ring. Return the pastry case to the oven for a few minutes to dry the inside and outer edge. Then fill up with the fish mixture, and decorate with the yolk of egg rubbed through a sieve and a little chopped parsley. Time to bake, about | hour. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. 1482. Russian Fish Pie (Pâté de Poisson à la Russe) 1 lb. white fish. 1 tea-sp. chopped parsley. 1 hard-boiled egg. White pepper and salt. 1 table-sp. white sauce. A little grated lemon rind and lemon juice. A pinch of cayenne. Rough -puff pastry. The fish for this pie may either be cooked or uncooked according to the kind used. Cod, halibut, or turbot would require to be cooked first, but such fish as haddock, sole, or whiting may be used raw. Break or cut the fish into small neat pieces and put them on a plate. Season with pepper, salt, cayenne, grated lemon rind, and lemon juice. Add the white sauce and hard-boiled egg cut in small pieces, and mix all carefully together. Make the proportion of pastry with ½ lb. of flour (see Recipe 1443), and roll it out square and about ¼ of an inch in thickness. Trim the edges with a sharp knife, reserving the scraps for decorating the pie. Put the fish mixture in the centre of the square, wet the corners of the pastry with cold water or beaten egg and fold them upwards, making them meet and overlap slightly in the centre like a handkerchief sachet. Press the joins well together and brush the pie over with beaten egg. Decorate the top with some leaves cut out of the scraps of pastry that were trimmed off. Brush over the leaves also with beaten egg and lift the pie very carefully on to a greased baking tin. Bake in a good oven until the pastry is thoroughly cooked and of a brown colour. Serve hot, garnished with parsley. Notes. — Cooked salmon may be used for this pie. Sometimes a little cooked rice is mixed with the fish. A few oysters or picked shrimps may be added. Time to bake, f to 1 hour. Sufficient for 4 to 6 persons. 1483. Maltese Pie ½ pt. curd. 4 lb. tomatoes. 3 onions. 1 table-sp. gravy. Seasoning. 1 oz. butter or dripping. Short crust or roughpuff pastry. Heat the butter or dripping in a frying pan and put in the onions peeled and chopped. Cook them a few minutes and add the tomatoes, which have been wiped and cut in small pieces. Cook both together 5 or 10 minutes longer, seasoning to taste with pepper and salt. Then add the gravy and curd, bring almost to boiling point, and then pour the mixture on to a plate to cool. Roll out some unsweetened short crust or plain rough-puff pastry rather thinly, and cut out two rounds the size of a dinner plate. Grease and line a plate with one of these rounds, prick it at the foot and put in the mixture. Wet the edges of the pastry with cold water, and put the other round of pastry on the top. Press the two together and mark round the rim with the back of a knife. Flute round the edges, make a small hole in the top of the pie, and brush it over with a little beaten egg. Then bake in a good oven until the pastry is thoroughly cooked and well browned. Serve hot. Note. — The curd may either be bought ready, or made according to directions in Recipe 1577. Time to bake, ½ hour. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Probable cost, 10 d. to Is.