Cut fruit, then vegetable (3)
I believe the answer is:
pea
'vegetable' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'cut fruit' is the wordplay.
'cut' means to remove the last letter.
'fruit' becomes 'pear' (pear is a kind of fruit).
'pear' with its last letter taken away is 'PEA'.
'then' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for pea that I've seen before include "garden plant" , "Edible seed from pod" , "Leguminous seed" , "12 in a pod" , "Common vegetable seed from pod" .)