Pissaladière (Provencal Onion Tart)

Think of the Pissaladière as France's answer to a pizza. Except this is completely different, texturally, to a pizza. It has a flaky, buttery crust from puff pastry and a sweet caramel flavor from slow, delicately cooked onions.

You could get fancy here and make your own puff pastry, or you could be like me and buy it. Actually, you could also get away with using your favorite pizza dough recipe, but I like using puff pastry here; the flavor and crispness is unbeatable. Whatever the case may be, this is an excellent, easy and elegant meal that comes together quite quickly and goes wonderfully with a side salad and a glass of wine.



Pissaladière
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- 2lbs large yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2-3 sprigs of thyme and rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 cup olive tapenade
- S&P, to taste

Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Take out your puff pastry and allow to rest for about 30 minutes. On a floured surface, roll out the dough as thinly as possible. Cut edges so you have a neat square/rectangle and discard leftover dough. Prick the bottom with a fork, place on a parchment lined sheet pan and bake for 10 minutes, until golden. Leave oven on and set aside.
- Add a tablespoon of oil or butter to a large pot on low heat. Add garlic, onions and herbs and cook for one hour, stirring frequently. The onions will turn incredibly tender and translucent and make what is called an "onion confit". Remove herb stems and bay leaf.
- Spoon olive tapenade on puff pastry and top with onions. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until heated through and brown. Slice into 6 pieces and serve hot or at room temperature.

Serves 6




Mine is pretty basic and very rustic. Traditionally there are French olives and anchovies on top of the onions, but I wanted to keep things simple and get the salty bite from the tapenade. Also, if you want it to look nicer, put the pastry in a tart pan. After going to three stores in search for one and not finding anything like what I needed, I gave up and just used by trusted sheet pan. The best thing about this recipe is that, like pizza, you can customize it to suit your needs.



But trust me, some tender onions and fresh herbs are all you need.