Pissaladière, my French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice this week.
Last Tuesday evening my Aspen friend, Luky, telephoned to check in and check up on me. As usual, we chitter-chattered, catching up on her news and mine. It was all good until she asked, “So, what did you do today?”
“I spent the afternoon at the cemetery,” I replied. “Birding.”
Silence. Thirty seconds of dead silence.
“You spent all afternoon alone at the cemetery?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I replied.
“Birding,” she stated emphatically.
I knew where she was headed with this, Readers, so I started to laugh. Luky did not.
“Mary,” she said, gravely.”This is not good. Not good at all. I’m serious. You are alone way too much.”
“I had fun, Luky,” I insisted. “Really I did.”
That remark just added fuel to the fire although she was somewhat amused. “You pack your bags right now,” she ordered, “and come home. You need to come home.”
The Community of Cambria, California’s cemetery, established in 1870.
Realizing she was on a mission – I’ve know this woman for almost thirty years – we worked out a compromise. Since I’d be leaving Cambria in 3 weeks anyway, I would stay only if we talked frequently. I suggested sending daily e-mails but that was a No Go. Luky and I cut a deal. Telephone calls and no more cemeteries.
This cemetery resident, a Northern Flicker, is hiding from me.
We’ll return to the subject of cemeteries later but that conversation put a big smile on my face yesterday when I was making Pissaladière, my French Fridays recipe choice this week. Pissaladière, with its filling of caramelized onions, anchovies, garlic and black niçoise olives, is the Côte d’Azur’s version of pizza. The difference is in its rectangular shape, salty, intense flavor, and thinness of crust. Pissaladière is a French classic and the quintessential street food in Nice.
Six onions, quite easily thinly sliced with an Oxo hand-held Mandoline.
I’m not unfamiliar with Pissaladière and have enjoyed it both here and in France. However, I’ve never made it myself. To my mind, it seemed complicated. I’m delighted, after following Dorie’s recipe in “Around My French Table, more than 300 recipes from my home to yours,” to realize it is not. My first effort worked.
The caramelized onions look just about right.
Serve it hot, warm or at room temperature. For breakfast this morning, I tried the cold version. Still tasty. It’s perfect for lunch or dinner, with salad. A meal. My preference is to feature it as a stand-alone appetizer. Small squares. Hand food. Truthfully, I’ve always thought Pissaladière to be very la de da.
Oven-ready
The onion mixture can be caramelized a day ahead and refrigerated. For the crust, make the same favorite dough recipe you use for savory tarts or pizzas. Frazzled and short on time? Grab your sunglasses and slink into your favorite grocery store to buy ready-made fresh pizza dough. The secret is to stretch or roll the dough until it’s about 10 x 14 inches and very, very thin. You will find Dorie’s recipe for her delicious filling below.
Add the anchovies and olives for the last 5 minutes of cooking time.
Now let’s return to Luky and our cemetery discussion. Who even thinks about cemeteries until you’re forced into a situation where you must? But Tuesday night, before I fell asleep, I found myself making a mental list of some cemeteries I’ve visited. My List gave me pause.
Molière’s tomb at the Père Lachaise Cemetery
First and foremost, I’ve visited Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia where Presidents John F. Kennedy and President William Howard Taft are buried. More than 400,000 others, so many recognizable notables, are buried there. We’ve been to Pearl Harbor where the USS Arizona is an active U.S. military cemetery. After going to Normandy one never forgets Cimetière américain de Normandie in Colleville-sur-Mer, France.
Singer Edith Piaf’s gravesite in the Pere Lachaise cemetery
Then, there’s the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, site of three WWI memorials and resting place of many French cultural icons. If you’ve visited New Orleans, you’ve undoubtedly seen the elaborate stone crypts and mausoleums that are built above ground. I’ve just recently visited the presidential libraries where Presidents Reagan, Nixon, Eisenhower and Truman are buried.
Kit Carson’s Tombstone in Taos
Closer to home, Michael and I once spent the day in Leadville, Colorado, celebrating the restoration of the Hebrew Cemetery established there in 1880. Last year, in Taos, I found the frontiersman Kit Carson’s tombstone. North of Taos are the deteriorating grave sites of the Pueblo de Taos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Doc Holiday, gambler, rogue and Wyatt Earp’s pal is buried at Pioneer Cemetery in nearby Glenwood Springs. Donna Chase and I both noticed his tombstone while, uh, on an Audubon birding field trip.
The Pueblo de Taos graveyard
I am fortunate to live one block from Ute Cemetery, Aspen’s oldest graveyard established around 1880. On the National List of Historic Places, it’s been completely restored in a remarkably wild and abandoned-looking manner. There are paths winding through the 5-acres that hold 200 marked and unmarked graves. Every so often, I grab my coffee cup and walk through the cemetery, enjoying its silence, wildflowers and imagining the lives these early settlers and Civil War veterans lived.
Doc Holiday’s tombstone in Glenwood Springs, Colorado
You have your own thoughts and experiences dealing with a subject not often discussed. Thank you for allowing me to share mine. Now let me share Dorie’s recipe for Pissaladière which, hopefully, you will want to share with your friends.
Remembering Civil War veterans at Ute Cemetery in Aspen
PISSALADIÈRE by Dorie Greenspan
Makes 6 servings
INGREDIENTS for ONION TOPPING
2 Tbs. olive oil
6 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced (I used a mandoline.)
1 thyme sprig
1 bay leaf
About 12 good-quality anchovies packed in oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
About 12 Niçoise olives, pitted or not
DIRECTIONS
1. Pour the olive oil into a large skillet and warm it over low heat. Toss in the onions, thyme, and bay leaf, stirring to coat everything with oil, then cook, stirring often, until the onions are translucent, soft, and golden, about 45 minutes to an hour, maybe more—this isn’t a job you should rush.
2. While the onions are cooking, chop 6 of the anchovies. When the onions are cooked, pull the pan from the heat, stir in the anchovies, which will dissolve into the onions. Season lightly with sea salt and generously with pepper.
3. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F.
4. Line a large baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
5. Roll the dough out on a floured surface until it is about 10 x 14 inches. The exact size of the rectangle isn’t really important—what you’re going for is thinness. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet and top it with the onion mixture, leaving a scant inch of dough around the edges bare.
6. Bake the Pissaladière for about 20 minutes, or until the dough is golden. Pull the pan from the oven, decorate the top with the olives and remaining anchovies, and bake the Pissaladière for 5 minutes more, just to warm the new additions. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
Make Ahead Tips
The onions can be made up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Once made, the Pissaladière can be kept at room temperature for a few hours.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international group of food bloggers who are cooking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table cookbook. You can visit the FFWD site here.
OM Mary!
A lovely post on a very interesting subject! And of course your substitute for this week’s FFwD is wonderful too! I have been eye-ing this recipe for some time, trying to pluck up courage actually, but due to your beautiful results; it has gone a couple of notches up my to-do-list for FFwD!
After reading Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife and immediately after that, devoured Her Fearful Symmetry. While I enjoyed both books tremendously, I am truly fascinated with cemeteries after HFS! I am so visiting the famous cemeteries in Paris (ie when I do eventually make it there!) and am happy to say that in the past two years (for work) had been to a Catholic cemetery and quite enjoyed the peace and quiet!
I am sure Luky will be convinced that you did enjoyed your day trip! And as always, truly enjoyed your post!
Sigh. I wish I had made pissaladière too. Sans anchovies, obviously!
LOL that I’ve been to so many of the same cemeteries! My family totally rejected this pissaladiere—but it was fun to make!
P.S. I love that you have so many friends who care about you. I think birding alone in a cemetery is just fine 🙂
1)Because I know Lukey Your readers may not know her name Sounds like Lewkey not Lucky. They have of course gleaned that she is a woman of force not easily deterred. I was walking with her last week at the Aspen institute when she gave the staff a piece of her mind for the ice that was still on the driveway. Never mind that we are in Colorado.
2)I ate The French Pizza at a flower market in Nice 45 years ago and it was heaven.. Cannot believe I havent tried it.
3)Bernie & I spent a delightful time at the Jewish cemetery in Ferarra Italy and we weren’t even looking at flickers. Great picture
So Mary your post really delivered to my mailbox
Mary, your pissaladiere turned out beautiful, and yes, this was a wonderful recipe. I love the various
cemetery photos, very interesting. When Jim and I went to Normandy, we were so impressed with the American cemetery there, so neat, and so beautiful.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Caramelized onions + carbs = winner. Just saying…
I don’t think spending time in a cemetery is weird at all. There is a cemetery a short walk from my house (about a mile) that sprouted in the 1700’s (the back half has fresher residents – including my grandparents and several aunts and uncles, who I try to visit as often as I can…). I find myself reading the headstones and wondering (as I wander) about the lives of the people behind (under) them. My youngest daughter will go with her sketch pad and spend hours there drawing.
It is lovely that you have friends who show much concern though 🙂
XOXO
We love visiting cemeteries in England. So old and so many untold stories. It’s fun to imagine the lives of the people on the headstones. I love how much your friend cares about you!
Your pissa-whatsit turned out beautifully. I like having time alone too, and it can be fun.
I wouldn’t have found anything odd about spending a day in a cemetery birding. I would have asked you if you found any interesting lichen because I’m a fungus fan. I bet your friend would find that even stranger.
I never made pissaladiere love all of that umani flavoring. Will have to make a GF version, still having trouble with wheat. Phone calls… I make those to my mother, everyone else text or email.
I love that Luky said what she really thought and didn’t hide behind some lame “that sounds… interesting” type comment. Those are the kind of friends you need, whether you agree with them or not.
And I loved the pissiladiere. but didn’t love making the pizza crust. So, yes, I will be the one sneaking off to the grocery store to buy pre-made next time. I’m really enjoying all these make ups as we near the end of the book, it’s like a little walk down memory lane:-)
Your pissiladiere looks wonderful! Great reminder to revisit this recipe. I find that there are people who enjoy spending time alone and those that don’t. I enjoy my alone time, so I can totally approve of your day spent alone at the cemetery. Great post!
We love walking through old cemeteries – they’re a very interesting way to learn about local history & architecture.
And, I am so not worried about you, You keep in touch with so many people.
We’re really looking forward to seeing you, again, soon!
xoxoxo
I just loved this one. I too had had it before but never ever considered making it myself. So many were afraid of anchovies! Remember that? I still don’t get the aversion. To anchovies OR cemeteries really. Old ones are nice to visit when it is optional… new ones not so much when it is required. Don’t tell anyone but I have been known to use Trader Joes pizza dough for this dish… shhhh…
I’m going to have to revisit this one. I can’t remember what I thought when I made it, but I really want to make it again after seeing yours. I find cemeteries to be peaceful and interesting places. I have a few favorites in the Boston area. Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge is known as a mecca for birders. My favorite is the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, where they have Author’s Ridge, resting place for the Alcotts, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Emerson.
Wow- LOVED this post. First off, the pissiladiere looks perfect and your process photos are awesome. Can’t recall if I used anchovies and now I will have to go back and look 🙂 Now the cemeteries. I guess I should not be chuckling but you have me doing so when reading your conversation with your concerned friend. Very cute and so very wonderful to have concerned friends who look out for you (and don’t agree to only a text or email !!). Since I find cemeteries and birding to be an interesting combo, I was not alarmed. I recall visiting several from on your list, including the one in Taos while on a family trip with Nana, my Dad and sons a few years back. Arlington was when the kids were babies and idiotic us took a stroller. There are many hills there, if you recall. Live and learn….
And I thought my husband’s family was the only ones that thought cemeteries are a vacation destination. You have given me an idea for Friday’s post:) I have not made the Pissaladière yet. Looks good but I will have to make one sans anchovies and olives. I will make the duck and peaches when summer fruits are in. Thanks!
Great post Mary! My father-in-law was a huge fan of cemeteries! He loved walking through any cemetery at any time. He’s the one that made me stop and think about them. Since we lived in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana he was able to visit many old and civil war ones. For me, the cemetery that haunts me is The Custer National Cemetery and the graves on the battle ground of Little Big Horn. My family is buried in a beautiful, little country cemetery on a hill top in Arkansas. One of the most interesting graves I’ve visited was Geronimo’s at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. We don’t see Northern Flickers very often in central Oklahoma so its always a treat when we do! I am very familiar with the sunglasses and baseball hat pulled low slink to the dairy case for prepared dough:) Take care Mary. I hope you are enjoying your time in Cambria. Is there anything better than friends who care enough about us to speak their minds?
Lovely post, Mary! Cemeteries can be incredibly peaceful and gorgeous places to wander and, more often than not, people are fairly respectful (which adds to that peacefulness). There’s one in SB that has an ocean view and, though I associate sad things with it, it really is a gorgeous spot. As for the pissaladière, Dorie’s version is good, I agree! For me, unfortunately, it’s a bit much for my stateside palate for lunch. I made it for a friend a couple years ago and we both were a bit turned off by the flavor intensity. She hadn’t been to France at all and I told her that I really liked it while in Nice so I was surprised that I wasn’t super fond of it at home. Then, later in India, I ran into a woman who buys furniture to sell in the US and we talked about buying clothing there: she cautioned me that what feels fine and lovely in India will often feel garish and awkward at home. I kinda feel like that’s what happened with me and the pissaladière. Anyway, I loved reading about your experiences and I think many of Dorie’s dishes, particularly the simple ones!, feel very la-de-da. 🙂 enjoy your last weeks/days in Cambria, Mary! It’s going to be a beautiful, warm weekend!
Mary, your posts are always so interesting. They always give me something to think about. I haven’t been to nearly as many cemeteries as you, but I do agree that they are interesting places to visit. I’m glad you enjoyed the pissaladiere. I remember liking it when I made it (except for the anchovies).