culinary review
   
   

Pissaladiere French Pizza with Caramelized Onions, Olives & Anchovies

Last Modified: 05/18/10
First Published: 05/12/10
Views: 883
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Views: 883
pizza and soup
This is a classic French pizza which is traditionally not made with either cheese nor tomato sauce, but instead with flavorful caramelized onions, olives and anchovies. It's very flavorful and delicious and is a great dish to make if you're tired of the regular pizza and you're looking for something interesting and tasty.

The secret to making a very good Pissaladiere is to use a thin crust. We like to oil our hands and the dough and stretch it out on parchment paper, then add the toppings, slide a wooden pizza spade under it and bake it on a hot baking stone. That way the bottom will get crisp and the filling will be well balanced.

When it comes to making caramelized onions, time is really the key. The longer you caramelize them, the more flavor they will get, don't do any less than 30 minutes. Flavorful Kalamata olives are really to be preferred, however if you don't have that on hand, regular ones will work as well.

Anchovies can be a bit tricky. If your whole family don't like them, then add them on half of the pizza.

Traditionally there is no cheese on this pizza and most of the time we do it that way. However this time we had some leftover cheese in the fridge that we wanted to use up, so we added some. Of course that was really tasty as well, although try it first without any cheese, just to see that you don't really need it!

Ingredients:

  • Pizza Dough
  • Butter
  • Lots of onions (at least 4-5 for 4 people)
  • olives
  • anchovies
Method:
Make the pizza dough according to instructions.  Put the oven on as high as it goes. Ideally have a baking stone in the oven.

Slice the onions, add some butter and saute the onions on the stove. Add some salt on them and cook on medium heat for as long as you have. If you need to deglaze, use white wine, dry vermouth or regular water.

Cut up the olives.

Assemble the pizza: Stretch it out thinly. Put on a layer of caramelized onions, then olives and anchovies. Bake in the oven for about 8-14 minutes depending on the heat of your oven, thickness of pizza and size of pizza.

When it comes out of the oven, let sit for at least 5 minutes before slicing.