The pissaladière is a thin onion tart, similar to a pizza, topped with anchovies and plenty of black olives in addition to onions. The pissaladière comes from Nice and, along with the socca (a kind of hearty pancake made from chickpea flour), is one of the local delicacies that can be found freshly prepared on every street corner and that people also like to eat on the go. The pissaladière is perfect for a summer picnic or a party!
Incidentally, the name comes from Nissart, a local variant of the Occitan language, in which a preparation of anchovies and spices is called "pissalat", which literally means "salted fish".
We make our pissaladière with the magnificent pink onions from Roscoff in Brittany, thus merging two very beautiful regions of France in a culinary way... Fusion food of a different kind!
Ingredients for 6 people:
For the dough
- 250 grams of wheat flour
- 70 grams of polenta
- 2.5 dl lukewarm water
- 20 grams of yeast
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Salt
- pepper
For covering:
- 700 grams of pink onions
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 10 black olives. Traditionally, the small Olives Niçoises (Cailletier) are used, but we find that the large, fleshy Olives de Nyons go much better.
- 8 anchovy fillets cut into pieces
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 1 pinch 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 olive oil and the yeast. Knead in 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, then place in an oiled bowl.
Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in volume (about 2 hours)
3) Peel and thinly slice the onions. 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 (place a sheet of aluminum foil under the lid) and simmer over a low flame for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 240°C.
4) Knead the dough again for about 1 minute. Divide into 6 pieces and use your fingers/hands to “roll” into 6 round bases, which should be slightly thicker around the edges. (Of course, you can also simply fill one or more baking sheets instead of baking one pissaladière per person).
Cover the pastry bases with the onion preparation and the chopped olives. Then let the dough rise again for 15 minutes before baking the pissaladière for about 20 minutes.
- - -
Our wine recommendation: white wine goes particularly well with onion cake of this kind. We currently like the Alfaiate branco from the Portuguese autochthonous grape varieties G allego Dorado, Arinto and Antao Vaz. It comes from the region around Setubal in the south of Lisbon and grows on sandy soil. It is slightly salty, iodic and mineral and therefore goes well with savory dishes!
- - -
You can download a print-friendly PDF version of the recipe here.
