French Pizza of Nice: Pissaladière

"Pissaladière" is a type of pizza that is a part of the cuisine of the city of Nice in southern France. The name is derived from French "peis salat," meaning, "salted fish;" thus, the anchovies in the recipe. Even if you don't like anchovies, you can give this pizza a try by simply adding a couple of anchovy fillets to the cooking onions, where the salty little fish will disintegrate into the onions, but they will not have the strong taste many people associate with anchovies used on salads or on some Italian-style pizza. "Pissaladière" seems to have been borrowed from the Liguria region of Italy, which is also known to some as "the Italian Riviera." The Italians used salted fish for their pizza, but later many recipes added tomatoes. Tomatoes came from the New World and Europeans at first thought they were poisonous, but once that idea was dispelled, tomatoes became a part of various European cuisines, and a major ingredient in Italian cuisine.

The easiest way to make Pissaladière is to simply buy some prepared bread/pizza dough, but if you prefer your own bread dough, go for it! I've read where some cooks now even use pie dough for Pissaladière. I bought black olives in olive oil, then pitted them myself, but you can certainly use green olives or a mixture of both black and green olives. I made a 10 inch round Pissaladière; so, the amounts below are for that size pizza, but you can use a pizza pan or a baking sheet of any size and then adjust the other ingredients accordingly. Good served with a glass of white wine. 

Ingredients:

bread dough (or you can use pie dough)
1 1/2 large onions, halved, then thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon sugar
black olives in olive oil, pitted (amount to your preference)
4 anchovy fillets  + more for garnish (optional)
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 sprig fresh thyme or 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

I used a round 10 inch dish for this. If you buy frozen dough, be sure it is well thawed and brought to room temperature. I use a little olive oil to coat the dish or pan. Use enough dough to create a somewhat "thin," but not a "super thin" crust. You also don't want the dough to puff up the size of a loaf of bread (remember, pizza/bread dough will have yeast or a leavening agent and will "puff up" to some degree). In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the onions until they soften, then add the anchovy fillets and sprinkle the sugar over the onions and mix it in. Lower the heat and let the anchovies dissolve into the onions, stirring occasionally. Let the onion mixture cook until the onions caramelize, stirring occasionally to prevent the onions from burning. During this process, add the thyme to the onions. Spread the onions over the dough, leaving a small edge around the dough. Place some olives on top of the onions and optionally, you can also add some anchovy fillets (whole or chopped). Bake at 400 F for about 30 to 40 minutes, until the crust edge is lightly browned.      

WORD HISTORY:
Jewel-The origin of this word is shaky, but it seems to be distantly related to "joke," a Latin derived word borrowed by English. It "seems" to go back to Indo European "yek," which meant, "to speak, to utter." This gave its Italic offspring "joko/ioko," meaning, "something said, an utterance," but also, "something said in jest." This gave Latin "iocus," meaning, "a joke, amusing entertainment," further, the broader, "that which brings happiness or rejoicing." This gave Latin the noun "jocale," meaning, "object that brings joy;" thus also, "decoration, adornment;" thus, "jewel, gemstone." This passed into Latin-based Old French as "jouel," meaning, "jewel, gemstone." Carried to England by the Normans as "juel," and then borrowed by English about 1300.  

Visit the Riviera at Home: Socca/Farinata

"Socca," also called, "farinata" in Italian, is a flatbread made from chickpea flour and it is a specialty of the Liguria region in northwestern Italy and also across the Franco-Italian border into the city of Nice in France. "Nice" in French, and "Nizza" in Italian, the area was part of Italy (actually the Kingdom of Sardinia, the forerunner of the modern united Italian nation) after Napoleon's defeat until 1860, when a treaty allowed it to be annexed to France, then under Napoleon III. The modern Italian border lies a little less than 25 miles away. This flatbread has its roots in the Liguria region of Italy, the coastal area of northwestern Italy, also known as the "Italian Riviera," which has Genoa as its most prominent city, as well as its capital, but it is also a specialty of Nice. The outside is crisp, but the inside should be soft and kind of creamy. You can eat the bread with a little salt and olive oil, or you can use any number of toppings on it, even making it into a pizza, which if you use the Italian form of Nice, you could call, "a Nizza pizza," and you could say, "Give me a piece o' Nizza pizza."

Ingredients:

1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup barely lukewarm water
1/2 tablespoon olive oil (more for pan & topping)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2/3 teaspoon salt

Mix together the ingredients (a whisk is good to use), slowly adding the water while whisking, taking care to eliminate any lumps. Cover the batter and let it stand for about 45 minutes. Turn on the broiler of your oven. Also turn on the large burner of your stove top to medium high. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a 9 inch to 10 inch cast iron skillet.* Heat the skillet on the stove top until it just begins to smoke. Swirl the hot oil around in the pan, so that it coats part way up the sides of the skillet. Add the batter into the hot skillet, swirling the batter to form an even layer over the entire bottom of the skillet. Once the batter is "set" in the skillet and the edges begin to sizzle, remove the skillet from the stove top and place it on the oven rack about 6 inches from the broiler. Broil until the top is brown and it has some dark brown to even blackened spots on it. Serving: cut into wedges, sprinkle each with a little salt and pepper, then add a few drops of extra virgin olive oil onto each wedge.   

* In the Riviera region they have special pans for making socca/farinata, which are typically cast iron pizza pans. 

WORD HISTORY:
River/Riviera-These words are distantly related to "riven" and "rift," both of North Germanic origin from the Germanic form from Indo European. "River" goes back to Indo European "reip," which had the notion, "to tear, to tear through, to tear apart, to cut into." This gave Latin "ripa," meaning, "seashore, embankment/bank of a river," both from the idea of "land forms made by water 'cutting' through or into land." This then produced the Latin adjective, "riparius," meaning, "of or from a (river)bank (and also, 'a seashore?')," which then produced the noun  "riparia," meaning, "a riverbank, a seashore," but also the idea of "riverbank" began to be applied to the "flowing water that formed the banks;" thus, the meaning, "river." This passed into Latin-based Old French as "riviere," meaning, "river, riverbank." This was taken to England by the Normans as "rivere," meaning, "river," and this was borrowed into English in the first part of the 1200s. The Old French word was taken by Italian as "riviera," with the idea of "embankment/bank," taking the meaning, "shore, coast" in Italian, "seemingly" especially applied to the coast of the Genoa area by the mid 1600s, including in English, but then expanded to mean the coastline in northwestern Italy and into southern France in the 1800s, as this overall general area was a retreat many well to do Europeans used in winter.  

Salad Niçoise, Sort Of

The word "niçoise" (pronounced: nee-swaz) simply refers to olives cured in the French city of Nice, which is located in the well known resort region of the French Riviera in southeastern France, along the Mediterranean coast.* So "niçoise" essentially means "from Nice, of Nice." The small dark olives are commonly grown in that general area of France. There are many variations on this common French salad, but I'm using my own "no cook" recipe. Often in France, fresh green beans are briefly cooked, keeping some crispness, for this salad, and boiled potato slices or chunks may also be added. Further, the dressing used is a vinaigrette, which includes Dijon mustard, but I used a little different homemade dressing. (Note: The mark under the letter 'c' in the French rendering of "niçoise" is called a 'cedilla,' and it indicates that the 'c' is pronounced as an 's.' Besides French, it is most notably used in Portuguese and Catalan, a language of eastern Spain and a part of southern France.)  

INGREDIENTS:

Niçoise olives (or other black olives in olive oil, or Kalamata olives)
3 Roma tomatoes, quartered (or about 12 to 15 grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise)
1 small can chunk tuna in olive oil
5 anchovy fillets in oil, rinsed, left whole or chopped
3 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
1/2 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips
1/2 medium red onion, sliced thinly
salt & pepper to taste
a few basil leaves, torn into thirds or quarters
lettuce to line the serving plate
dressing (see recipe link below **)

Line a plate or platter with lettuce leaves (you can use any type: head lettuce, butter lettuce, Boston lettuce). Place the tuna in the center, then arrange the tomatoes, onions, red bell pepper, and olives around the tuna. Top the arrangement with the egg quarters and anchovies, then add the torn basil leaves, finish with salt and pepper, or leave this to the individuals to add per their own taste. I used no salt, as the anchovy fillets and dressing add salt, so I would be careful how much salt you add, if any. The salad dressing can be placed on the table in a dish with serving spoon, and the individual servings can be topped with the dressing per the person's own taste.
 
* On the Italian side of the border is the Italian Riviera, located in the Liguria region of Italy, but within the French Riviera is one of the world's smallest countries, Monaco.

** This is the link to the recipe article I did for French salad dressing: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/07/homemade-creamy-country-french-dressing.html

I used some whole black olives in oil, but the store was out of the other cured black olives they carry in their olive bar. I also added some Kalamata olives (the smaller brown colored olives), but they are in a brine. Niçoise olives might be difficult to find, so you may have to substitute other types. I kept the anchovies whole, so they could be seen in the photo, but you can chop them.

WORD HISTORY:
Sumptuous-This word, related to "consume," is a compound meaning, "splendid, seemingly expensive;" thus, "luxurious."  I will do its history from more recent to ancient. English borrowed the word from French "somptueux" in the second half of the 1400s. French, a Latin-based language, had the word from Latin "sumptuosus" (expensive), itself from Latin "sumptus," which meant "expense." This came from the Latin verb "sumere," meaning "to take, to acquire;" thus, "to buy." This came from the prefix "sub" (under, from below), the origins of which are unclear,^ and from "emere" (to take), "likely" from Italic^^ "emer/emo," derived from Indo European "em/um," with the notion of "take, acquire."

^ I "may" do a separate history of the prefix "sub," which "may" be an Italic form related to the Old Germanic word which gave English the modern word "up."

^^ Italic is a branch of the Indo European family of languages and includes Latin, Umbrian, Venetic, and others, most of which have died out. Latin's limited use today is mainly because its dialects evolved into several modern languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Catalan, Sardinian, and several others.