Pissaladière Nicoise
(Onion Tart With Anchovies and Black Olives)
There are many versions of this recipe and it is very flexible. If you don’t want to make your own favorite pastry dough, you can substitute refrigerated prepared pie or pizza dough.
Serves four to six.
2 lbs. minced onions
4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium herb bouquet: 4 parsley sprigs, 1/4 tsp. thyme, and 1/2 bay leaf, wrapped and tied in washed cheesecloth
2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1/2 tsp. salt
1 pinch powdered cloves
1/8 tsp. pepper
8-inch partially cooked pastry shell on a baking sheet
8 canned anchovy filets
16 pitted black olives (the dry Mediterranean type)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Cook the onions very slowly in the olive oil with the herb bouquet, garlic, and salt for about one hour, or until very tender. Discard the herb bouquet and garlic. Stir in cloves and pepper, and taste carefully for seasoning.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spread the onions in the pastry shell. Arrange anchovy filets over it in a fan-shaped design. Place the olives at decorative intervals. Drizzle on the oil. Bake in upper third of the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until bubbling hot.
Le Tarte des Demoiselles Tatin
(Upside-Down Apple Tart)
Serves eight people.
4 lbs. crisp cooking or eating apples, quartered, cored, peeled, and cut into lengthwise slices 1/8 inch thick and tossed in bowl with 1/3 cup sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon (optional), and 2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
6 Tbsp. melted butter
Chilled sweet short pastry dough
Butter a clear-glass 9-to-10-inch baking dish heavily, especially on the bottom. Sprinkle half the sugar on the bottom and arrange a third of the apples over it. Sprinkle with a third of the melted butter. Repeat with a layer of half the remaining apples and butter, then a final layer of apples and butter. Sprinkle the rest of the sugar over the apples.
Preheat oven to 375.
Roll out chilled pastry dough to an eighth of an inch thick. Cut it into a circle the size of the top of the baking dish. Place it over the apples, allowing its edge to fall against the inside edge of the dish. Cut four or five holes about an eighth-inch long in the top of the pastry to allow cooking steam to escape.
Bake in lower third of the oven for 45 to 60 minutes. If pastry begins to brown too much, cover lightly with aluminum foil.
Tart is done when you tilt the dish and see that a thick brown syrup rather than light liquid exudes from the apples between the crust and the edge of the dish.
Immediately unmold the tart onto a serving dish. If apples are not a light caramel brown, which is often the case, sprinkle rather heavily with powdered sugar and run under a moderately hot broiler for several minutes to caramelize the surface lightly.
Keep warm until serving time, and accompany with a bowl of cream or crème fraiche.