Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients

• 1 generous quart rhubarb, peeled and cut up
• 3 cups sugar
• 3 whole sweet oranges
• 2 blades mace
• 1/2 cup, scant cold water
• pie crusts

Instructions

1. Peel and cut up the rhubarb. Combine it in a pan with the sugar, pulp scooped from three sweet oranges, thin bits of the yellow peel, mace broken small, and cold water.
2. Cover the pan and set it in a hot oven for thirty minutes. Uncover and cook for five minutes longer.
3. The result is a sweet that can be used as a sauce, as a substitute for marmalade, as the foundation of pies and tarts, or as a filling for layer cake.
4. For pies: Make them with two crusts or with lattice crusts as usual. For tarts or turnovers, fill them with the prepared rhubarb and bake.
5. For meringue or frosted tarts: Bake the crusts after pricking them well. Cover thinly with either good meringue or frosting (as directed for cheesecakes) and let it harden. At the minute of serving, cover with a thin layer of the prepared rhubarb. The meringue or frosting will stay crisp until eaten if you work quickly enough. For added decoration, drop a cherry or preserved strawberry in the middle of each tart.