Pissaladière

I was looking for a supper dish that wasn´t a quiche (we´d already had tortilla) and happened across a recipe for pissaladière - an onion tart with anchovies and black olives from Provence.

Now onion tart is a fabulous appetizer, but I wasn´t convinced it would work as a whole meal.  So I found an adaptation that had more stuff in it - and, since I´m always looking for a way to eat more vegetables, thought we´d try a deep-dish version.

From an old copy of Ann Bramson´s The Complete Family Cookbook:

2  tbsp. (30 ml.) olive oil
2 large onions, peeled and sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed with 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (225 gr.) canned tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp (15 ml.) tomato paste
1 tbsp (5 ml.) chopped fresh basil or 1/2 (2.5 ml.)tbsp dried
1 tsp (5 ml.) sugar
Freshly ground black pepper
Pie pastry case
4 tomatoes skinned and thinly sliced
1/2  cup (115 ml.) shredded gruyère or cheddar cheese
2 oz. (50 gr.) anchovies in olive oil, drained and soaked in milk for 30 minutes
1/4 cup (60 ml.)black olives, pitted and halved

(I bumped up all the quantities of the vegetables and used mozzarella and swiss cheeses) Heat the oil in a frying pan.  Add the onions and garlic and fry gently until golden.   Stir in the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, sugar and pepper to taste.  Stir well, pulping the tomatoes with a wooden spoon, and bring to the boil. 

Cool slightly then transfer to the pastry case.

Arrange tomato slices in a circle on top, sprinkle with the cheese, then arrange drained anchovies in a lattice pattern on top.  Put halved olives in each ¨window¨ of the lattice.

Bake in a fairly hot oven (190C/375F) for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.Remove from oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

It was very pretty and tasty - I served at room temperature.  And V thought it was really good too.  I didn´t really enjoy the anchovies as much as I´d hoped (didn´t bother with the soaking in milk), and I think the black olives needed to have a stronger cure.  Being deep-dish style also was a little harder to serve - it tended to fall apart on the plate.

I think I may try it again - but this time in the traditional tart form, and probably for a starter and not a side or main dish.  I also think the pizza dough might stand up to the onion better.

For another version see Ina Garten´s recipe here.