Pissaladiere? What? Oh, you mean that pizza thing.

Actually, not pizza. It’s like pizza, but it’s French. Black olives, anchovies, tomatoes and caramelized onions French. With a whole grain crust. That’s right a light, well textured whole grain crust.

Here’s the photo from in the oven. I would’ve had a photo out of the oven, but company arrived, I got busy, bottles of wine were being opened, and then they ate it all. Sheesh. WTF? I knew I should’ve done two.

This is so easy. A no-brainer. Really.

In a big old cast iron skillet, medium heat, add 4-5 tablespoons olive oil and one huge sweet onion that has been finely sliced - or ‘frenched’.

Add a few pinches of salt. Gently, slowly cook these lovely onions down to a fare thee well, stirring frequently - or until they are very wilted, soft, tender, fragrant, and almost but not quite golden. Don’t let them burn or brown. Kill the heat. Set aside. Try not to ‘pick’ at them.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Meanwhile, take one packet of fast rising yeast, add that to a bowl which contains: one egg beaten, 1/3 cup barely warmish tap water and a pinch of sugar. Stir with a fork, and then let it sit for about ten to 15 minutes and liven up. Get a little foamy thing going on.

In a larger bowl: 3 cups of flour ( I use a combination of Italian 00 bread flour, white whole wheat, and barley flour). Keep your ratio of white flour at one half of the total flour. Add 1/8th cup of fresh thyme and rosemary, minced. Two teaspoons of salt.

Stir that flour, salt and herbs around with your fingers to combine. Make a ‘well’ in the center. Pour in 3/4 cup of barely warmish water, followed by the yeast/egg mixture and two tablespoons more of olive oil. Take your clean little fingers and start mixing from the outside of the bowl to the well, around and around. Feel how wonderfully light and ‘silky’ the flour is. Like silk sheets. Draw the flour in to make the dough. Knead to make it rather more elastic. Add a bit more flour, only as needed to keep the dough workable. Take your rings off before you start this.

When all is thoroughly combined and happy looking, form it into a ball and rub about two tablespoons of olive oil around on it. Cover with a kitchen towel and set it in a warmish - draft free place until it doubles.

Slice up two nice tomatoes. Prepare the olives. You will need about 1/2 cup of pitted Nicoise or similar olives roughly chopped. Round up 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese. Now open a small tin of anchovies and drain them in a colander, and rinse them under water to remove excess salt and fishy-ness. Drain.

When the dough has risen to twice it’s original volume, punch it down and take it out onto a baking sheet. Roll it out, more or less in a rectangle. It’s alright to sprinkle a bit of extra flour on it, to keep your rolling pin from sticking to the dough. Spread the cooled caramelized onions all over. Yum. Add the tomato slices,  an attractive lattice of the anchovies, olives, spinkled cheese and several healthy grinds of black pepper.

You can sprinkle some generic Italian seasoning or Herbs de Provence around on it all.

Now, let it all set and think for about 30 minutes, allowing the dough to rise again. This isn’t a huge rise.

Now, pop it into the hot oven for 30 minutes. Remove and let it cool for about 10 minutes before slicing. Serve as a cocktail appetizer, or a side to a wonderful salad and soup.

Try this on a weekend, and you’ll see that it’s so easy that you’ll be able to do it on a weeknight.

-maven

Oh, remember to go get your rings out of the bread box, and put them back on. Duh. Your ultra-sonic toothbrush will remove any dried dough.

I crack myself up. Really, I do.

Flavorful whole roasted branzino. Mangiare!

This is such a no-brainer for dinner. Branzino is easily available now in Reno. I see it on the bed of ice in the Whole Foods fishmonger section all the time. It’s also not particularly expensive either. If you don’t care to cook the fish whole and bone it - although it’s a nice skill to have - let the nice people in WF’s fish department do it for you. It doesn’t cost a cent. Can’t get branzino, then use any whole white fish. This recipe would be awesome for Arctic Char (which is expensive) or even better a fresh Walleye from Minnesota. Yum.

I love doing fish like this, but when a grill isn’t available don’t despair. Use a cast iron grill pan with those nice raised lines. Don’t have one (why not? They’re cheap)? Pan fry the thing.

The point here is the aromatics inside the fish. Fennel is so underused by Americans - especially out here in the west. I love it raw in salads, braised as a side dish vegetable, in stews and it’s a natural with a white fish like branzino. Fennel is also a natural with citrus and shallots.

The olive viniagrette is another simple idea taken from the classic ingredients of rustic southern European cuisine. Olive tapenade in jars is available in the aisles of most supermarkets these days. Can’t find it? No worries. Break out the little food prep Cuisinart and pulse some black and green olives - whatever you’ve got, with some olive oil and garlic.

Voila! Tapenade. Make extra and put it into a Mason jar in the fridge for use in salad dressing or meat braises.

Finally, try potatoes without the damn mayonnaise. Done like this chef has, you’ll taste the real potato flavor.

If you were at my table, you’d get this dish served with some nice Dijon mustard for the fish, and lots of good cornichon pickles to nibble on.

So it’s time to venture out beyond tilapia, dear reader.

Branzino for dinner.

Q&A

How can you tell when seafood is done cooking?

A. It bursts into flames.
B. It doubles in size.
C. It turns from translucent to opaque.
D. It asks to go back in the water.

ANSWER: C

Most seafood will gradually turn opaque white or pink.

-maven

Braised lamb shanks done right

I love lamb, when it’s real lamb - grass fed and preferably locally grown - and when it’s properly prepared. A lot of folks have a real dislike for lamb, which I’m pretty sure stems from eating lamb that’s either mutton, or lamb that hasn’t had most of the visible fat removed. It’s the fat which contributes to the ‘gamey’ flavor that a lot of people don’t like about lamb.

It doesn’t have to be like that.

I make lamb that avowed lamb haters love.

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New items in the olive bar at Whole Foods

Oh, yum …. marinated figs with olives, right next to the big bin filled with preserved lemons. Get crazy with the North African cuisine, folks.

The figs are to die for. Sweet, savory, a little salty - love, baby, love.

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North African Baked Chicken

I hadn’t really planned on putting this on the blog, but my dinner guests have insisted. Since it disappeared in record time last night, I guess it was a ‘hit’.

Years ago, I dated a great Persian guy for the longest time, and his mother was one of the best cooks I’ve ever known. She and I would actually do marathon, multiple day cooking fests for parties that were absolutely incredible. I tell you this, because some of the influences that I learned in Monir’s kitchen find their way into dishes like the following, which I sort of made up on the fly last night. This dish has both Moroccan and Tunisian influences.

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Half and half martini: when you just can't make up your mind

Christ, there are people who detest gin, and those who can’t stand vodka! How do you keep ‘em happy and mellow? A ‘Half and Half’ is just the answer.

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