Cook: 20-25 minutes, plus 45 minute onion caramelising time

Serves: 4

I especially love pissaladière as party food, and, from my own party-giving experience, I know it is one of the first things to get hoovered up. It adds a riviera riff to picnic food too, if it survives late-night fridge raids.

Originally, reflecting the Côte d’Azur’s close ties with Italy (the region only became part of France in 1860), pissaladière was made with a yeast dough, like pizza, and, traditionally a pissaladière of course starts with a layer of pissalat spread over the base, before the onions, hence the name. If you’re fortunate enough to find pissalat in Nice, grab a bottle. It is a punchy condiment for anchovy fiends, comprising of puréed anchovy, cloves, thyme, bay leaves, sometimes cinnamon, pepper and olive oil.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Warm the olive oil until it is shimmering in a large pan with a close-fitting lid. Add the onions, shallots, herbs, garlic and a pinch of salt and pinch of sugar, stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, then add a splash of water and cover. Cook gently for at least 45 minutes to a couple of hours, keep on a very low heat, stirring now and then. The onions should be soft, starting to caramelise and turn a light, golden brown, but be hawkish so that they don’t catch or burn. Add a tablespoon of water if they seem in danger of sticking. Take off the heat. Drain the onion mixture well in a colander, squeezing out any onion juice.
Unroll the pastry onto a sheet of baking paper and place on a preheated baking tray. Fold over the edges to make a 1cm border on all four sides. Prick inside the border lightly with a fork, so that the base doesn’t spring up.
If you have pissalat, start by spreading a thin layer on the base of the puff pastry. Then spread the onion and shallot mixture evenly inside the border, smoothing it with the back of a spoon.
Arrange the anchovies in a harlequin lattice shape and dot with olives.
Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed up and golden.
Cool slightly. If not serving as an appetiser or party/picnic food, offer a crisp green salad alongside for a simple, supremely pleasing supper.

Recipes extracted from Consider the Anchovy: A journey in pursuit of the little fish with the big flavour (Headline Home)

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Ingredients

Name: A riff on pissaladière
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil; 4 large red onions, peeled, trimmed, halved and finely; 6 small shallots, peeled and sliced; 2 sprigs each of rosemary and thyme; 2 bay leaves; 2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly crushed; A pinch of salt; A pinch of caster sugar; 1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry, about 300g; 12 good quality anchovies, drained of oil; 4 tbsp pissalat, if you have it; A big handful of Niçoise black olives, without stones

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 large red onions, peeled, trimmed, halved and finely
6 small shallots, peeled and sliced
2 sprigs each of rosemary and thyme
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly crushed
A pinch of salt
A pinch of caster sugar
1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry, about 300g
12 good quality anchovies, drained of oil
4 tbsp pissalat, if you have it
A big handful of Niçoise black olives, without stones