Strawberry and tonka tartines

I had my first taste of strawberry tartines as a child. At the time, I would spend a lot of my Summer holidays at my grandparents’. Their big house in the country is sitting right by a main road but the back of it has a huge garden and beautiful fields beyond it. This garden is and has always been my Papy’s pride (Papy is what we call my granddad). At the time, a big part of it was filled with all types of fruit, vegetable, herbs and nuts: pear, cherry, kiwi, walnut and hazelnut trees, lettuce, endives, asparagus, tomatoes, different types of potatoes, artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes, onion, garlic, leek, carrots, parsley, dill, thyme and many many other things. If there is a garden that properly represents fruit and vegetable seasons to me, it is this one. Nowadays, the garden looks a bit empty because it is a lot of work for my Papy at his old age. He now mostly takes care of flowers, plants and whatever nut or fruit tree needs attention.
The first fruit he had to stop growing were strawberries. Oh, those strawberries! There were three huge rows of them and they were the most delicious I have ever tasted: sweet, juicy and very fragrant.

During one of those Summer holidays, I was walking along the garden on a particularly hot day with my great-aunt. She is my granddad’s sister and lives in French Guyana. She visits mainland France every 5 years and each time it is a wonderful occasion to catch up and hear her stories of life in South America.
That day, she was telling me such stories and was picking strawberries right off the plants at the same time. The fruit was drenched in sunshine and the smell resulting from it was so appetising that we could not resist eating a lot of it before it even reached the basket (this is my favourite way of eating strawberries). It was nearly time for le goûter (afternoon snack) so she asked me ‘veux-tu une tartine de fraises?’ (would you like a strawberry tartine?). This was a first for me. I had never heard of it and yes, I very much wanted one.
We walked back to my grandparents’ house and went to the kitchen where she made me one. I had had many other types of tartines before (with jam, cheese, chocolate - not altogether...) but never one that tasted so much of Summer as this tartine de fraises.

This is more a tartine assemblage of sorts than a strict recipe. Choose the bread that suits you (my preference is for a fresh piece of baguette cut in half or a big slice of crusty bread loaf), spread some good quality butter on it, slice the strawberries, layer them on top, a sprinkle of sugar if you feel like it et voilà!
I sprinkled my strawberry tartine with some grated tonka bean as this is a combination I really love (I recently tried strawberry and tonka jam and it was absolutely divine).

I don’t get to walk along the strawberry rows in my granddad’s garden anymore but at least eating this brings back wonderful memories of it.

Strawberry and Tonka Bean Tartines Recipe (Vegetarian)

Ingredients

bread
butter
delicious strawberries (sliced)
sugar (optional)
grated tonka bean

Assemble your tartine by spreading some good butter on the bread you choose (for mine, I chose unsalted butter and a piece of my homemade rustic baguette). Layer the strawberry slices on top, sprinkle with sugar and grated tonka bean.

Note: A light sprinkle of grated tonka bean is enough (just like cinnamon, it contains coumarin, which can be toxic at high doses - for measure, I only use half a bean when making a dessert for 4/5 people).

Bon appétit!