Today is the birthday (1828) of Jules Gabriel Verne, a French novelist, widely known for his collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel leading to the creation of the Voyages extraordinaires, a popular series of adventure novels including Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Between 1863 and 1905 Verne published 54 novels in the series.
On the first day of Around the World in Eighty Days we encounter Phileas Fogg he has this breakfast (more like lunch actually):
His breakfast consisted of a side-dish, a broiled fish with Reading sauce, a scarlet slice of roast beef garnished with mushrooms, a rhubarb and gooseberry tart, and a morsel of Cheshire cheese, the whole being washed down with several cups of tea, for which the Reform is famous.
You will find a recipe for Reading sauce here (Photography — Feb 11) so let’s turn our attention to rhubarb and gooseberry tart.
Ingredients
1 lb rhubarb, cut in chunks
½ lb gooseberries
1 cup sugar
lemon rind
sweet shortcrust pastry (see HINTS)
egg wash (milk and egg beaten together)
caster sugar
heavy cream
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425°F
Top and tail the gooseberries and place them in a saucepan with the rhubarb, sugar, a small piece of lemon rind, and half a cup of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until soft. Drain the fruit, reserve the juice, and discard the lemon rind.
Line a 9 inch pie plate with pastry. Add the drained fruit. You can simply cover with a top crust, or make a lattice top. Brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle over a little caster sugar. If the crust is a whole sheet, cut some slits in it for steam to escape. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the crust is golden.
Serve hot or cold with cream and the reserved juice.
Book of Days Tales 
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