Pissaladières

I did it. I took the leap of faith and quit my job. It was not an easy decision to say the least. It was wrought with crying, anger, resentment, all the emotions I could have ever felt rolled up in to weeks of torture. And then the feeling of relief washed over me. I was ready to take the road less traveled. I am not going to say the day of was calm, because it really was not. I took out everything I had on everyone else before pausing to jump.

Here I am a few days later, and miles calmer, and more collected. For once in my life I am rather at peace in thinking about not totally knowing what my next step is going to be. I have made a list, a list of things I want to do with my time. Cook more, Run a lot, Clean, and most importantly, spend more quality time with my husband. The first three were easy to come by, the last one, I had to dig down deep for, not because it isn't something I want to do, but it wasn't obvious that we were missing that on a daily basis.

 

We have both been working a lot, and when we get home we both like to exercise, which then leads to needing to take care of the dog, the chickens, the cats, the garden, shower, and finally whip something up for dinner.  After dinner, its practically time to go to bed, and start the day all over.  Cook more was obvious because I noticed us slipping up on doing it as we got busier and it used to be something we loved to do together at the end of a long day, and cleaning was just something that is a task that gets put off because there is no time to do it. I have my last six loads of laundry I have cleaned and folded, still sitting by my door waiting to be put away, because basically it wasn't made to be a priority. Running more is just something I love to do, it puts me somewhere else, it helps me clear my head and calm my nerves.

So, spending more quality time with my husband is something I need, because in truth, we both just haven't gotten much. But what does this have to do with food? one might ask. Well it doesn't really, and honestly I haven't thought long and hard about what to actually write about. What I did realize that what I wanted to make had to be delicious and easy, something that can be served with a quick salad, which brought me back to a dish we had at a friends house years earlier and we preceded to steal the french delight and make it at home a couple of times.

Pissaladieres, according to the master Elizabeth David, is basically a french white pizza. She suggests using uncooked bread dough or pastry dough as the base, however, I very much enjoy the crunchiness that tart dough brings to it, so although I am steering a bit off course from tradition, I think you will find it to be quite delicious and worthy of date night.

Pissaladières
Tart Dough 

1 rounded cup flour

4 oz butter
1 TB sugar
1/3 tsp salt

Filling

Roughly 3 large onions, sliced

2-3TB olive oil

1TB butter

2 sprigs thyme

white wine to deglaze the pan (only if needed)

1 can anchovies

about 20 niçoise olives

Turn oven to 425 degrees.

Heat oil and butter in a large pan over medium-low heat. Once the butter begins to bubble, add onions and thyme. Cover pan to let onions slowly simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and continue cooking until the moisture has evaporated and the onions cook down. Remove from heat and set aside.

While the onions are cooking prepare the tart dough. Place all the ingredients in a heat proof bowl. Melt the butter in a saucepan until it begins to bubble, then add to the dry ingredients and briskly stir until smooth, then spread the dough in the tart pan. Prick the bottom of the pan with fork tines and then place in the oven for about 10-15 minutes or until dough is lightly browned, then remove from oven.

Fill shell with onions, then distribute olives and anchovies on top. {I didn't use my entire can of anchovies for this one, as Lucky is very fond of them, so I snuck a few to him} so use your discretion as to how many you want.

Place tart back in the oven for another 15 minutes then take out, let cool for a few minutes, then enjoy.