Gooseberry and Strawberry Tart

Recently a colleague gave me a load of gooseberries from her garden and I was looking for something nice and summery to do with them for a dessert at a BBQ. I made some jam with the spare ones but I decided to make a tart, as I can't remember ever making one before. I chose to pair the gooseberries with strawberries to offset the bitterness. This was quite an easy recipe with a very tasty outcome!

Ingredients:

For the Pastry:
200g Plain Flour
1 heaped tbsp Icing Sugar
120g Butter (unsalted), cubed
1 egg yolk (save the white)
Milk
Pinch of salt

For the Filling:
200g Gooseberries
200g halved Strawberries
Zest and small squeeze of juice of 1 Lemon
3 tbsp ground Almonds
1 Egg white (saved from the pastry) lightly beaten

Method:

1. For the pastry; rub together the flour, sugar, butter and salt with your fingertips until you get a breadcrumb-like consistency. Add the egg yolk and enough milk to bring the mixture together into a clumply dough. Knead lightly on a floured surface until it will shape into a ball. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for half an hour.
2. Combine the berries, sugar, lemon zest and juice and set aside to macerate for at least half an hour. (At this point I also added a little cheeky splash of Brandy!)
3. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees and grease/line your chosen vessel. I chose a pie dish but you can create this whichever way you like.
4. On a floured surface roll out just over half the pastry, quite thinly, and place in dish for the base. Leave a little too much as the edges will shrink a little when it bakes, you can cut any extra off later. Blind bake this for a few minutes in the oven. A good tip here, if you don't have baking balls like me, is to use rice or beans wrapped in tin foil to keep the base down. I used rice and the good thing is you can use the rice/beans again after use - just put them back in the packet!
5. Cut the remaining pastry for your tart top. I decided to go for a latticed design but it's completely up to you.
6. Spoon the fruit into the blind-baked pastry case with a small amount of the juices. Sprinkle over ground almonds and complete pastry topping to your liking. I did this by placing the strips of pastry over the top. Brush top with egg white and sprinkle over some granulated sugar.
7. Bake for half an hour or until the pastry turns a deep golden colour. Serve warm with cream (or ice cream if you prefer!).