Chef's Pissaladière with Fresh Anchovies, Confit Onions, and Black Olives

Ingredients

• 500 g fresh Mediterranean anchovies, whole and gutted
• 400 g fresh pizza dough ready to roll out
• 350 g sweet onion confit
• 90 g pitted Nyons or Kalamata black olives
• 1 piece red bell pepper
• 2 tbsp capers in vinegar
• 5 tbsp fruity extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp Modena balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 clove fresh garlic
• 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
• 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
• 0.5 bunches fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 piece unwaxed yellow lemon
• 2 tbsp wheat flour
• to taste fine salt
• to taste whole black peppercorns

Method

1. Prepare the anchovies: quickly rinse the fish in cold water, pat them thoroughly dry, then fillet them with your fingers or a small knife, removing the central bone. Keep the skin if it is attractive: it protects the flesh and gives it a little structure during cooking.
2. Season the anchovy fillets in a cold dish with olive oil, red wine vinegar, grated garlic, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, a little pepper, and very little salt. Let rest in the refrigerator while the base cooks; the fillets should become glossy, not opaque as they would in a long marinade.
3. Heat the oven to 240 °C with a heavy baking sheet or pizza stone inside. The heat must be intense to sear the dough quickly and keep the onion confit from making it soggy.
4. Roll out the pizza dough on a lightly floured surface into a thin disk or rectangle. Form a small rim with your fingers, then lightly prick the center. The dough should remain supple but thin enough to bake crisp.
5. Mix the onion confit with the balsamic vinegar and a spoonful of olive oil. Taste it: it should be sweet, just salty enough, with noticeable but discreet acidity.
6. Spread the onion confit over the dough in an even layer, leaving the edge lightly covered. Add the red pepper in thin strips, the roughly crushed black olives, and the drained capers. Bake on the scorching-hot sheet.
7. Bake the base until the edges puff and brown well, and the underside sounds dry when lifted with a spatula. If the center seems moist, continue until the confit is gently simmering and the dough resists the blade.
8. Remove the pizza from the oven and immediately arrange the marinated anchovy fillets over the hot surface, skin-side up when the skin has been kept. Return to the oven very briefly: the anchovies are ready when the flesh becomes pearly, barely firms up, and the tips begin to curl.
9. Let rest out of the oven for a few minutes. This finishes cooking the anchovies without drying them out and lets the marine juices mingle with the onion confit.
10. Finish with chopped flat-leaf parsley, a fine zest of yellow lemon, a drizzle of raw olive oil, and a few grinds of black pepper. Serve hot or warm, cut into clean portions, with the anchovies clearly visible on top.

Nutrition

Per serving

Energy

720.5 kcal

Protein

34.76 g

Carbohydrate

61.11 g

Fat

36.07 g

Fibre

8.21 g

Calcium

55.75 mg

Iron

2.38 mg

Magnesium

24.14 mg