A Pissaladière Recipe: The Pizza Known as Niçois
Pissaladière is also known as niçois pizza, a dish that closely resembles the Italian cousin just over the border, but with several key differences: for one, there are no tomatoes; for another, there is no cheese. Before you go jumping to the conclusion that pissaladière is no more than flatbread, imagine the tomato sauce replaced with a layer of deeply caramelized onions; the cheese and other toppings are removed to make way for tiny, salty anchovies and briny olives. You’ve found your way to pissaladière heaven.
Pissaladière
Makes one pissaladière
Ingredients
1 pâte feuilletée or puff pastry dough (or you can make your own puff pastry)
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 tsp. herbes de Provence
1 tin sustainably fished anchovies in olive oil
several black or niçois olives (6-12 depending on the size of your pissaladière)
salt and pepper
Directions
Heat a skillet over low heat and add the oil and butter. When the butter has melted, add the onions with a pinch of salt. Allow to cook without stirring for fifteen minutes or so, until the onions begin to color. Add about half of the wine and continue to cook. Stir every 2-3 minutes until the onions have caramelized, adding wine when they look dry. Alternatively, if you have some of our caramelized onion jam lying around, you can use that. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
When the onions are cooked, stir in the herbes de Provence and some fresh black pepper.
Unfold the dough and lay it on a baking sheet or in a tarte pan. Fork it all over. Spread the onions in an even layer over the dough. Lay the anchovies over the onions to form a diamond pattern, with an olive between each diamond. Bake at 450 degrees 5-10 minutes, until the dough is browned. Serve hot or cold.
Image: Emily Monaco
