a cheats ‘pissaladiere’

I have fallen totally and utterly in love with Franck Dangereux Pissaldiere since making it in December. Slowly caramelised onions, thyme, olives and anchovies work so beautifully together in this rustic French dish.

I was craving all these flavours as I seem to do so often these days but didn’t have the time to make the dough and let it prove, so I decided to play around with a cheats version and use a baguette.

It worked beautifully.

The recipe was enough to cover 2 smallish baguettes about 25 – 35cm long, so this is perfect for a light lunch or supper for two. You could also cut it into thick slices and serve these as a snack with drinks.

The onions take about half an hour so its worth doubling up the recipe and having leftovers to add to a sandwich afterwards.

For the onions:

• olive oil
• 3 large white onions peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 1t fresh thyme leaves
• 6 fillets of anchovies, chopped, plus 6 whole fillets to garnish
• a handful of pitted calamata olives to garnish

To make the onion mix – can be made in advance.

Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a medium sized pan and when hot add the onions, garlic and thyme. Reduce the heat and cook slowly for 20 – 25 minutes until the onions are really soft and a light golden colour. Do not let it brown. Add the chopped anchovies, season with a little pepper.

To prepare the baguette:

Slice a third of the top off the baguette off. Having the base a little thicker than half makes this a bit more substantial. Press into the bread with your fingers so as to semi hollow out  that baguette. Divide the onion mix in half and spread it over the 2 baguettes. Lay the 6 anchovy fillets in a criss-cross across the top (* if the fillets are very thick you can cut these in half lengthways and only use 3) and dot the olives along the top.

Bake in a 180 C / 350F oven for 20 – 25 minutes until golden and crunchy.

This is delicious served with a crispy green lettuce.

To see my other onion recipes – take a look at these links:

red wine caramelised onions and goats cheese tartlets

crispy oven roasted onion rings with a jalapeno dip

Creamed onion gratin with blue cheese

easy roasted onions with thyme

I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.

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