Almond Tart with Strawberry and Lemon Compote

They say that with a first child you buy a dish washer, with second you hire someone to help. Well, I have a dishwasher now. There are more changes, as we’ve decided to change an apartment, as our “student times” came to an end. I don’t know how it is with getting an apartment in your city, but Berlin is not easy. I’m not even talking about finding it but mainly being chosen to live in it. I won’t bore you with all the details, the most important one is that we finally got it. Now it’s all about packing and organising and then unpacking and organising again. I went through different phases – I couldn’t believe that I have so many things in such a small place, then I’ve realised how difficult and time consuming packing can be and in the end… I got sentimental. I’ve been living in different countries in many different apartments, but this one is special. I spent most of my pregnancy in it and we had many talks about our future as a small family over there. This was the place where I got first contractions but thought that it’s not serious yet, so I kept watching “Bridges of Madison County” at 4 am. We went to a hospital and 3 hours later Mia was with us. After 4 hours nap we went back home with our girl. I’ll always remember this first days in our bedroom. She was there with us and we had no idea what to do with her. She was so tiny and sweet and she was sleeping with us and it felt so right. In the morning we used to go to a kitchen, drink coffee and talk about her. We spent some awesome time in this apartment. This is also a place where I understood that my life has changed completely and Mia will always be with us (I thought that I knew, but I didn’t). I’ll also miss my kitchen, it’s perfect light and the way I could move around my wooden table. Whole place was full of light. It was a good place filled with good memories. My first three years in Berlin.

It all makes me sentimental like crazy. I have tones of pictures from this precious period, but, to be honest, I feel like keeping the old apartment forever. If I stay in Berlin till Mia understands things better (or at all), I’ll show her this building and tell everything about it. I may skip few embarrassing details.

Going back to “being sentimental” subject. About a year ago I was in Sydney and I bought a cookbook. But I didn’t just buy it. There is a story behind it. I went to New Zealand for a week and this sweet lady wrote me to go to Reglan, her home town, and to visit her dad’s store. Many things has happened in New Zealand and totally by accident I went to Reglan. And I did visit this store. I did not meet the dad, but I’ve learned that Emma has just realised a cookbook. I went back to Sydney and the first thing I did was to look for this book. My Darling Lemon Thyme is full of delicious and healthy recipes. I tried many of them and I was always satisfied. It’s not a new position on a market, but it’s definitely worth checking out. I hope you’ll like it as much as I did. And here comes a delicious recipe for Strawberry Lemon Tarts. Thank you Emma.

You will need for tart (6-8):

• 1 and ¼ cup (175g) rice flour
• ¼ cup corn flour (25g)
• ¾ cup ground almonds
• ¼ cup palm sugar
• 125g cold butter
• ½ cup almonds, finelly chopped
• 1 egg

For strawberry and lemon compote:

• 500g strawberries
• zest and juice from 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp palm sugar
• 1 tsp corn flour
• greek yogurt for serving

Start with greasing little tart forms. For me it was 8 forms, but depends on it’s size.

Place flours and sugar in a bowl, mix it with a spoon, add butter cut in small cubes and with your hand tear it with flour mix. Add egg and chopped almonds and kneas the dough with your hand. Cover the bowl or wrap the dough in a plastic and place in a fridge for about 30 minutes.

Meantime make compote. Place strawberries (if big cut in half), lemon zest, juice and sugar in a pan, cover and cook for about 2-4 minutes. You want it to get soft. Add corn flour and cook, while mixing, until it thickens (about a minute). Put on side so it cooles down.

Take your dough out of a fridge, roll on a baking paper so it’s about 4 mm thick and press it with forms, so you have proper shapes. Place each piece in a form and press it a bit with a finger, so it coveres a whole form. You can place it in a fridge for few minutes and meantime heat your oven to 180*C. Bake for about 20 minutes. Remember to check on it after 15 minutes, so it won’t burn.

When tarts are ready let it cool down. Then place a tablespoon of yougurt on it and cover with strawberry compote. You can add few leafes of mint and linseed or chia seeds on top.

Tastes amazing with a good cup of coffee.

Enjoy, Marta