A zingy tart from Southern France that pairs sweet caramelised onions and buttery pastry with salty anchovies and black olives.
Inspired by Thom Bateman (@bboxfood) and his idea to collect cost effective, store cupboard recipes. This is a Pissaladière tart: buttery short crust pastry filled with caramelised onions, anchovies and black olives. I had a can of anchovies in the back of my cupboard and a jar of leftover black olives in the fridge, so this was relatively easy to throw together. The strong salty tang of the olives and anchovies balances brilliantly with the caramelised onions. I also sprinkled some fresh thyme on top (but this isn’t essential). My dad used to make this when I was growing up and I’d pick off the fish to get to the sweet onions underneath. He adds a little tomato paste to the onions so it’s basically a tart version of Pizza Napoli (Italians go ahead and correct me). It’s a flavour that reminds me of home, which I’m finding particularly comforting in isolation! Missing my folks a lot. Hoping we can all eat together again soon.
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
- 100g of butter
- 25g lard
- 250g of flour
- 1 tbsp of water
- 1 tsp salt
For the filling:
- 5 large onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp white sugar
- tbsp tomato paste
- a knob of butter
- olive oil
- 2 tins of anchovies
- black olives
- a small sprig of fresh thyme
- ten inch tart tin
Method:
1. Make the pastry in a magi-mix by blitzing up the cold butter and lard with the flour and salt until it resembles bread crumbs. Add a tbsp of cold water into the magi- mix and blitz again until it starts to come together. Remove and form the dough into a ball. Squeeze the ball flat into a thick pancake shape, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Sweat the onions in a small amount of butter and oil. Add the sugar and slowly caramelise over at least half an hour until they’re gooey and sweet. Add the tomato paste and allow it to cook into the onions. Remove from the heat.
3. Roll out the pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin. Grease your tart tin with melted butter and a dusting of flour. Gently mould your pastry into the tart tin, making sure it is flush against the edges of the tin. Then, with a sharp knife, trim away the excess pastry around the edge of the tin. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
4. Line the pastry case with baking paper and baking weights (or dried pulses). Bake at 200°C for 10 minutes. Remove the baking weights and paper and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until a light golden colour. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
5. Fill the pastry case with the caramelised onions. Decorate with anchovies and black olives. Sprinkle with fresh thyme.
6. Bake for 15 minutes in a 200°C oven.
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