Pissaladiere

Pissaladiere, or as chef Michael McEnearney likes to call it, French pizza, is a beautiful way to showcase Pepe Saya’s cultured butter. In Mike’s version, the butter is the star of the show. "A mouth-watering dish just packed with hearty flavours: the tomato jam, the rich pastry, the salty olives and anchovies and then the confit onion – lots going on! It all makes me think of lazy afternoons in sunny Spain and that makes me think of Sherry. It’s really those sweet and salty edges which go so well with the acid and tangy, sea air flavours of dry sherry. Of course, we can’t call it that here thanks to some grumpy EU lawmakers, but there are plenty of great Australian options as long as you look around. Rutherglen is a great area for fortified wines, especially the sweeter styles, but they also excel at dry sherries as well, like this example from the historic Chambers winery." - Dan Coward

• serves

  6

• prep

  1:30 hour

• cook

  2 hours

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 300 g onion confit with capers and thyme 
• 300 g pate brisee 
• 1 red capsicum, roasted, peeled, seeded 
• 50 g anchovies (preferably Ortiz), cut into thin strips 
• 50 g Ligurian olives, seeds removed 
• 30 g tomato jam 

Onion confit with capers and thyme

• 30 ml extra virgin olive oil (Ravida) 
• 25 g anchovies, chopped (Ortiz) 
• ½ bunch fresh thyme, leaves picked 
• 50 g salted capers, soaked in water for 10 minutes and drained 
• 500 g brown onions, thinly sliced 
• pinch of Murray River pink salt 

Pate brisee

• 500 g plain flour 
• 500 g salted butter (Pepe Saya) 
• 100 ml water 

Tomato jam

• 2.6 kg trussed tomatoes 
• 50 ml extra virgin olive oil (Robinvale) 
• 1 pinch of Murray River pink salt 
• 1 whole white peppercorn 
• 300 g brown onions, diced 
• 30 ml red wine vinegar 
• 30 g caster sugar 
• 1 garlic clove, peeled

Drink Chambers Rutherglen Dry Flor Apera, Rutherglen, Vic

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

To make the onion confit, warm the oil in a medium saucepan and add the anchovies, thyme and capers. Keep over a low heat and sweat slowly for 2 minutes, until the anchovies have melted. Add the onions and a pinch of salt.

Cook slowly for 1 hour, until the onions are translucent and all of the excess fluid has evaporated.

To make the pate brisee, rub the flour and butter together with your fingers, or pulse in a food processor to form breadcrumbs. Gradually add the water and knead into a dough. Cover and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll out the pastry thin and line a frying pan or a 30 cm-round pizza tray. Prick the pastry base all over with a fork (this is called "docking"). Bake the pastry for 25 minutes, or until light golden brown.

To make the tomato jam, preheat the oven to 180°C.

Roast the tomatoes in half of the oil with a pinch of salt and the peppercorn, until soft and lightly caramelised.

In a small saucepan, over a low heat, sweat the onion in the remaining oil until transparent. Using a mouli, puree the tomatoes into the onion pot. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer until thick and has the consistency of jam.

Pass the mixture through a sieve. Store in the fridge with a film of oil on top.

To make the pissaladiere, spread the pastry base with the onion confit.

Cut the roasted capsicums into thin strips.

Make a lattice pattern with alternate lines of anchovy and capsicum. Put an olive in the middle of the diamond.

Place back in the oven for 5 minutes and cook until the pastry is golden brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. To serve, cut into portions and drizzle with tomato jam.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.