Mommy's French Food

I remember the first time I watched my mother throw anchovies into her spaghetti sauce.  I was in my own moody preteen years, and found the whole thing repulsive.  Unmoved by my moods, my mother continued cooking and ultimately served my favorite sauces: spaghetti puttanesca.  This same angst has caused me to pass over pissaladiere. Anchovies fried into a sauce is one thing, biting into a whole anchovy is quite another. However, with the memory of my failed blini still fresh, I was hungry for a French Friday win.

The beauty of this recipe is in the minimal effort for delicious results.  The long simmered onions were elevated with the addition of chopped anchovies.  And, the crust was a work of art.  Not a crunchy thin crusted pizza, a true flaky French pastry that instantly differentiated this pissaladiere from your gourmet pizza.

Enjoyed with a glass of white wine, this is a meal to have in the midweek, or a great appetizer to have at an elegant dinner party.  Perhaps I'll serve pissaladiere this holiday season instead of blini!