This beautiful recipe is adapted from Claudia Roden’s latest book ‘Med’. It is a masterpiece in simplicity. It consists of just a few ingredients - onions sweated in olive oil, a grid of anchovies studded with black olives and a pastry base as crumbly as a sandcastle.
The unusual pastry is made using plain flour, salt, butter, egg yolk and a little milk to help the mixture stick together. It is then pressed into a baking tin, rather than rolled out.
You will need a shallow tart tin with a removeable base measuring either 36cm x 13cm (rectangular) or 28cm across (circular)
Serves 6
Ingredients
Shortcrust pastry
125g unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
250g plain flour
¼ tsp salt
1 medium egg, separated
1-2 tbsp milk
Filling
2 tbsp olive oil
4 large onions, sliced
1 jar of anchovy fillets, drained
1 small jar pitted black olives
black pepper
1 small bunch of thyme, leaves removed from stalks
Method
To make the pastry. Place the cold butter, flour, and salt into the bowl of a food processor and process for a few seconds until the mixture looks like small crumbs. Add the egg yolk to the other ingredients and process for a few more seconds adding enough milk to make the mixture come together into a ball. Do not over process.
Take the pastry out of the food processor, wrap in clingfilm/ greaseproof paper and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.
To prepare the onion filling. Heat the olive oil in a large pan with a lid. Place the onions in the pan and cook covered over a very slow heat until the onions turn brown and become silky soft. This will take about 30 minutes. Season with pepper.
Preheat the oven to 220°C or 180° fan.
Remove the pastry from the fridge and press it into the tart tin with your fingers or a pallet knife. Prick the bottom of the pastry case with a fork and brush with the egg white.
Bake the pastry case for 10 minutes and remove from the oven.
Spread the onions over the pastry case and arrange the anchovy fillets in a lattice pattern. Press the olives into the onions in between the lattice and scatter with thyme leaves. Bake the tart for 20 minutes.
Serve warm, cut into slices with a crisp salad.
