Pissaladière
We always used to tease Mum that she was no good at pastry. Her certificate from the Cordon Bleu School in Paris was for a Très Bien degree, but it had ‘avec pâtisserie’ crossed out, as she had not completed that module. This guest recipe shows how wrong we were.
The eagle-eyed will note that the tart in the first and last photo, that Mum made, has flaky, light pastry; whereas in the other photos, of a tart I made later, it was tougher and had retreated from the sides of the dish. I also failed to include anchovies, catering for a vegetarian colleague, which was a big error. They are key, as the contrasting saltiness with the sweet and sour onion/tomato filling makes for a special dish.
- 1.5lb/700g onions, finely sliced – about 4 large onions, there will be a lot of tears without a super-sharp knife, or food processor
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced – Mum squishes hers in a garlic press instead and says its optional
- 8oz/225g plain flour
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 3-4 tablespoons cold water
- 4oz/115g cold butter
- 1lb/450g tomatoes – cherry ones are tastier, or vine/plum tomatoes
- Handful of black olives, stoned
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano – or 1 tablespoon fresh
- ½ – 1 tin of anchovies – you really do get what you pay for here, so buy nice ones
I’ve taken a few liberties with Mum’s recipe, adding metric measures and re-ordering things a little. Start with the pastry. Cut the butter into hazelnut sized pieces and whizz with the flour and salt for a few seconds in the food processor till crumbly. Mix the egg yolk with the cold water and pour into the flour/butter mix with the food processor on – for just a few more seconds – until the pastry barely holds together. Tip onto a floured countertop and combine swiftly into a flattened ball with your hands, before it warms up and is over-worked, which would lead to a tough pastry that shrinks. Wrap and put into the fridge for half an hour to rest.
Meanwhile… cook the onions slowly in a large pan with the olive oil and a little salt. After ten minutes add the garlic and keep cooking gently until they turn translucent, then just golden. Mum says this could take 20-minutes; I’d estimate at least double that though. Once soft and sweet, let cool. For the tomatoes – if you can be faffed – pour boiling water over them in a bowl for 15 seconds then drain and pick off the skins. Then halve or quartered them if they are big.
Roll out the pastry to line a 10 inch/22.5cm loose-bottomed flan tin, leaving a little overhang to help offset any shrinkage later on, if by chance you don’t have as light a touch as Mum, despite her lack of formal training… Don’t be tempted to use a non-metal tin, like I did, as it may end up with a less-than-firm bottom. Prick the base with a sharp knife and chill the base again in the fridge until the filling is ready.
Heat the oven to 200°C. To assemble the tart, spread the cooled onions over the pastry base and season them. Then arrange the tomatoes over the top; followed by the “halved slips of anchovy” as Mum vividly describes them, in a criss-cross pattern; and the black olives nestled in between. Bake for 20 minutes and then reduce the heat to 175°C for a further 10-20 minutes until the pastry is crisp and the filling is bubbling. If you can bear the wait, let it cool a little and eat warm. You could always rustle up a sharply dressed green salad to accompany it in the meantime.
