Touted to be the one of the best dishes out of France the sweetness of caramelised onions, salty anchovies and olives combine to create the most tasty of pizza style tarts. And, it’s a great recipe to season your pan in the early days of your love affair! 

I chose to caramelise my onions slowly in the oven but if you want to speed things up, doing it on the stove top is just as delicious.

I used Sabato’s Talatta White Anchovies, which I just love. They’re very delicate in flavour and mouthfeel and are preserved in the most delicious extra virgin olive oil, which I’ve saved for later use. The Cornicabra pitted olives are wonderful. Juicy, plump and not overly salty.   

If you haven’t got Sabato ingredients on hand, don’t let this stop you! Just replace with anchovies and olives of your choice.

And another thing! If you want to speed things up even further use store bought puff pastry instead of dough.

THE CARAMELISED ONIONS

100 g butter
4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
6 medium white onions, thinly sliced
6 fresh thyme sprigs, chopped
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 150°C.

Melt butter and olive oil in your Ironclad Legacy Pan. Toss all ingredients in the pan and cover with tin foil and bake for 1 hour.

Remove tin foil and bake a further hour until the onions are fall apart tender but sticking together and not too wet. Stir every 30 minutes.

Remove from pan and cool. This can be made a day in advance or not!

THE DOUGH

½ c warm water (40°C to 46°C)
1 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 ⅓ c (or more) all purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil

In a bowl that will allow the mixture to double in size, sprinkle yeast, sugar, salt and one tablespoon of flour over the warm water and let sit for 10 mins till frothy.

Add remaining flour and form into a ball. Knead lightly for 5 minutes, return to bowl, spray with olive oil and let sit covered for an hour till doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 160°C.

Knead the dough lightly and using your hands press into the bottom of your well oiled Ironclad Pan.

THE TOPPING

17 drained Talatta White Anchovy fillets halved
30 Cornicabra olives – (about half a jar)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
Rock salt to taste

Spread onion mixture evenly on top of the dough. Sprinkle chopped thyme on top.

Criss cross with anchovies and fill each diamond with an olive.

Brush dough edge with anchovy oil. Grind salt over the top.

Bake for 30-35 minutes till crust is brown and crunchy.

Serve warm, not hot.

We served this with a simple salad of rocket, grated fresh beetroot, roasted pumpkin seeds and goats feta.