Pissaladière uit Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book
'PISSALADIÈRE
This is the onion and tomato tart of Nice, which has a family relationship to Italian pizza. The similar names are a coincidence – pizza means pie and pissaladière comes from pissalat, a Niçois form of anchovy sauce.
First you need to make up half a litre (good ¾ pt) of tomato sauce – according to the season and the tomatoes available, follow the fresh tomato sauce on page 512, or the Italian tomato sauce on page 511.
Next stew ¾–1 kg (1½–2 lb) sliced onions in a little salted water until tender. Drain and mix with the sauce
Line a Swiss roll tin with shortcrust pastry. Spread the onion and tomato mixture over it evenly. Lattice the top with split anchovy fillets (you will need two tins) and dot with stoned black olives. Brush over with olive oil. Bake at '
'220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7 for 25–35 minutes, until the pastry is crisp. Serve hot, tepid or cold. Wonderful picnic food.
Note Instead of shortcrust pastry, you can use thinly rolled bread dough. Allow the dough to rise in the normal way until it doubles in bulk. Then roll it out and spread with the onion mixture. Prove for 20 minutes, then bake at 230°C/450°F/Gas Mark 8 for about 25 minutes. But keep an eye on it.'
'BASIC TOMATO SAUCE
A splendid sauce, one of the great freezer standbys if you have a glut of home-grown tomatoes of a good variety, e.g. Marmande, which are firm all through and full of flavour. Don’t bother to use the Dutch and Guernsey tomatoes normally on sale: a large can will give a much better taste.
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
125 g (4 oz) streaky bacon or Italian coppa, chopped (optional)
2 tablespoons butter, lard or bacon fat, or 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large carrot, diced
1 kg (2 lb) tomatoes, skinned, chopped, or 1 large can (800 g, 1 lb 12 oz)
150 ml (5 fl oz) dry white or red wine, or 5 tablespoons Marsala or brown sherry'
'salt, pepper, sugar
dried oregano, chopped fresh basil
Soften the garlic, onion and bacon, if used, in the fat. Add the carrot, tomatoes and wine, breaking down canned tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Raise the heat and cook hard, uncovered, for 15 minutes, or more slowly for 45 minutes if the tomatoes are canned. Add seasoning and oregano after ten minutes. The chopped basil should be put in just before serving and a little more scattered over the top.
As a general principle aim to finish with a chunky purée that is moist rather then watery. If you are freezing the sauce, you will find this the most useful texture. If you want to smooth out the sauce a little, without spoiling its vigorous character, put it through the coarse plate of a mouli-légumes. If you are using some of the purée to flavour other sauces, e.g. sauce aurore, put it through the medium plate. If you want to make cream of tomato soup, p. 507, a blender is the thing.
Shortcrust pastry (Bron: bbc.co.uk)
Ingredients
125g/4oz plain flour
pinch of salt
55g/2oz butter, cubed
30-45ml/2-3 tbsp cold water
Preparation method
Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and add the cubes of butter.
Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until you have a mixture that resembles coarse breadcrumbs with no large lumps of butter remaining. Try to work quickly so that it does not become greasy.
Using a knife, stir in just enough of the cold water to bind the dough together.
Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for 10-15 minutes before using.
Alternatively using a food processor, put the flour, butter and salt in the food processor and pulse until the fat is rubbed into the flour.
With the motor running, gradually add the water through the funnel until the dough comes together. Only add enough water to bind it and then stop.
Wrap the dough in clingfilm as before and chill for 10-15 minutes before using.
