The pissaladière is a thin onion cake, similar to a pizza, which is topped with onions, anchovies and plenty of black olives. The pissaladière comes from Nice and, along with the socca (a kind of savory pancake made from chickpea flour), is one of the local delicacies that can be found freshly prepared every day on every street corner and that people also like to eat straight away. The pissaladière is perfect for a summer picnic or party!
By the way, the name comes from Nissart, a local variety of the Occitan language, in which a preparation made from anchovies and spices is called "Pissalat", which literally means something like "salted fish".
We make our pissaladière with the wonderful pink onions from Roscoff in Brittany, merging two very beautiful regions of France in a culinary way... fusion food of a different kind!
Ingredients for 6 people:
For the dough
For covering:
- 700 g pink onions
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 10 black olives. Classically, one takes the small Olives Niçoises (Cailletier) or the Cuquillos from Murcia
- 8 anchovy fillets cut into pieces
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 1 pinch of oregano
- 1 bay leaf
Preparation:
1) Dissolve the yeast in 4 tablespoons of water. Mix the flour, polenta and half a teaspoon of salt in a bowl. Make a well and pour in the rest of the water, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the yeast. Knead the flour with your hands.
2) Knead the dough into a soft ball, adding more flour if necessary if the dough is too sticky.
Knead the dough for 5 minutes and then place it in an oiled bowl.
Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size (about 2 hours)
3) Peel the onions and cut them into thin slices. Heat the oil in a sauté pan, add the onions and let them soften over a medium heat (about 10 minutes).
Add the oregano, bay leaf, anchovies, salt and pepper.
Seal the whole thing hermetically (with a sheet of aluminum foil under the lid) and let the whole thing simmer over a low flame for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 240°C.
4) Knead the dough again for about 1 minute. Divide it into 6 parts and “roll” it with your fingers/hands into 6 round bases, which should be slightly thicker at the edges. (Of course, you can also simply line one or more baking sheets instead of baking one pissaladière per person).
Cover the dough bases with the onion preparation and chopped olives. Then let the dough rise again for 15 minutes before baking the pissaladière for about 20 minutes.
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Our wine recommendation: white wine goes particularly well with this type of onion cake. We currently particularly like the Manda Chuva Branco from Portugal. It comes from the region around Setubal in the south of Lisbon and grows on sandy soil. It is slightly salty, iodized and mineral and goes perfectly with savory dishes!
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You can download a print-friendly PDF version of the recipe here.
