Strawberry Sunday tartelettes with almond pastry

Summer Sunday is definitely the day for sweet tarts or tartelettes. This time I tried also a new pastry where half of the flour is ground almond. The end results was lighter (not less butter though...) and literally melted in the mouth. Definitely to be done again.

These little pastrycups are also a perfect standby treat. Just keep them in an airtight box for a week or so, and take out whenever you feel like indulging...  This time we filled them with rhubard curd (no surprise there I suppose), whipped cream strawberries, blueberries and some grated chocolate.

Almond pastry for tartelettes

150g cold butter
150g ground almonds
2,5dl icing sugar
0,5tsp salt
1tsp vanilla sugar
4dl flour
2 eggs
2tbsp almond liqueur

Rub the other ingredients than eggs together to form a sandy mixture. Add eggs and liqueur and form the pastry. Put into a plastic (bag) and into the fridge until the next day.

Use silicon pastrycases (or butter the metal ones). Cut slices from the dough (2 mm thick) and cover with them the cases. Push with fingers to form an even coating.

Bake in 200 (celsius) degrees oven for 10-12min. Let cool.

Fill with rhubarb curd, cream and berries. Grate chocolate on top. Enjoy.

Rhubarb curd - the best ever

I love lemon curd and I thought nothing could surpass it. I was wrong.

Early summer is the time for rhubarbs in Finland. Tarts, cakes, sauces all take a rhubarby vibe at some point. When I needed something to put in a cake and macarons rhubarb was the natural choice.

I'm happy I did it. There is a special tangyness in this curd. Sweet and tonguecurdling sharp at the same time. I takes all my self control not to take a spoon and...


Rhubarb curd

3 rhubarb stems peeled and chopped
1,5dl sugar (or the preservation sugar)
3 egg yolks
50g butter

Mix the rhubarb cubes and the sugat in a pot and heat it. Leave to bubble calmly for 15min or until the rhubarb has practically dissolved.

Whisk the egg yolks lightly in a bowl.  Pour gradually in the rhubarb whisking all the time. Put the mixture back to the pot and continue heating stirring continually.

When the mixture thickens, whisk the cold butter into it in cubes. Put in a clean jar and leave to cool.

Try not to eat all at once.

Summertime and strawberry menu

Summer is here. How do I know ? Well, you can't get the children to bed in the evening and you can't get them up in the morning. Too much light they say. Perhaps that's true as we are approaching the midnight sun and there is light still late in the evening.

Then there are the strawberries... no, not the Finnish ones yet. These come from Spain or Holland, but they can still be used. One of our favourite lunches with straberries of any origin is a salad with halloumi and strawberries. Simple and delicious.

Some time ago I tried the lemon posset for the first time ever. This time I made it with our own rhubarb and that was the point of no return. I cannot understand  how I've managed not to taste nor make before something as good as posset seems to be, whatever the variation. The rhubarb posset was heaven on earth when flavoured with vanilla, with strawberries, of course.

Strawberry-halloumi salad

So simple. Just mix saladleaves with cucumber, spring onion, strawberries and avocado. Fry the cheese slices on a pan with little oil and put on top. We like balsamicosyrup as dressing, but you can, of course, put whichever dressing you like best.

Rhubarb posset with strawberries

I found the recipe in one of the Finnish blogs (Maistuis varmaan sullekin) and modified it to fit the quantity and family mood in our house i.e. added some vanilla extract and more sugar.

3,3dl cream (one packet size in FInland, thus the funny quantity)
3 branches of rhubarb cleaned, peeled a little and cut into 2 cm pieces
1,5dl sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
0,5dl lemon juice

Cook the sugar and rhubarb pieces with half of the lemon juice until rhubarb is almost dissolving. Let the cream boil for a few minutes in a separate saucepan and mix then with the rhubarb and add the rest of the lemon juice. Divide into little bowls (I got 5 of them) and let cool and set in the fridge for a few hours preferably until the next day.

30min before serving, mix the strawberry pieces with icing sugar and some vanilla sugar.  Eat on top of the rhubarb posset.

And yes, be warned. If you have not made posset before, remember, this is incredibly addictive Especially the rhubarb flavoured.