Pissaladiere is a French onion tart essentially made from pizza crust topped with caramelized onions and good black olives. The rich and sweet caramelized onions are slowly cooked with fresh thyme, and are perfectly paired here with the salty olives. On a trip to Portland, Oregon a few years ago, my friend Annarie made this for me…. actually, I think she made it twice on that visit. She’s seriously addicted to caramelized onions, and has a hard time keeping herself from eating them straight out of the skillet.
This recipe comes from Joanne Harris’ cookbook My French Kitchen. During my Portland visit, Annarie sung the praises of this cookbook, and used several of its recipes. I was compelled to pick up a copy for myself. It’s full of simple and rustic French dishes, including the basic salad dressing I used for the raw brussels sprout salad.
This is best served for a crowd, and has become one of my favorite party appetizers, as of late. I made it this year for an Oscar party, as well as for New Year’s Eve.
Pissaladiere
Ingredients
For the Onions:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- bunch of thyme
- 3.5 pounds onions, very finely sliced
- sea salt, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the Dough:
- 4.5 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2/3 cups lukewarm water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 cups unbleached flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing
For Assembly:
- 1 cup black Mediterranean olives such as Kalamata, pitted
Instructions
For the Onions:
- Prepare the onions by slicing them very thinly.
- Warm the 2 TBS olive oil and 2 TBS butter in a large heavy skillet or saucepan over low heat. Strip the thyme leaves from the stalks and add about half to the pan.
- Add the onions, and cook over low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent browning. They should be soft and slightly caramelized. Season with salt and pepper and let cool.
For the Dough
- While the onions are slowly cooking, make the dough. Mix the yeast with the lukewarm water and sugar. Leave for 10 minutes in a warm place until the mixture becomes frothy.
- Put the flour and salt in a mixing bowl, add the yeast & water mixture and the olive oil. Mix until you have a dough ball.
- Lightly flour a work surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes, until the mixture is smooth and soft.
- Brush the inside of the bowl with a little olive oil, put the dough in, and cover with a cloth. Leave in a warm place to rise until the dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Brush a baking sheet with a little olive oil.
- Knock the air out of the dough on a lightly floured surface and kneed for 2 minutes.
For the Assembly:
- Roll the dough out to a 12 x 10-inch rectangle, place on the baking sheet, and brush the surface of the dough with a little more olive oil.
- Cover with the cooked onions. Arrange the olives. I usually cut the olives in half after pitting, but you can leave them whole if you choose. Sprinkle with the remaining thyme.
- Let this rise again, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile heat the oven to 425F. Then bake the pissaladiere for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve warm. Use a big knife to cut it into rectangles.
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