Food You Can Eat: 2 Easy Julia Child Appetizer Recipes: Pissaladière and Petites Caisses au Fromage

Sorry that I didn’t provide translations in the title. It would have been far too long. A pissaladière is a famous Provençal standby, an onion tart topped with anchovies and olives. Petite Caisses au Fromage are pastry shells filled with herbed cream cheese and artichoke hearts. 

For the pissaladière:

2 tbsp. butter

2 tsp. raw (demerara) sugar

6 yellow onions, diced small

¼ teaspoon black pepper (a couple of shakes)

¼ teaspoon salt (a couple of shakes)

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

½ teaspoon dried thyme

20 black olives in oil, drained. (I just used fresh ones, not jarred in oil.)

1 large sheet of thawed puff pastry

20 anchovy fillets. (My local fishmonger has these, but you might have to get tinned or jarred.)

2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme, from your handy rooftop herb garden

2 tsp. olive oil

The real work in this is the onions. 

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.

In a large oven-proof skillet melt the butter over medium heat, then add the sugar and the onions. You need to sauté these for about 15 minutes (in my experience) until the onions “turn golden and tender.” You need to stir them often so they don’t sit in one spot and scorch. When you think they’re there, shake in the salt and pepper and add the the dried thyme. Stir a little more, and move the skillet and its contents to the oven. Leave it in there until the onions “wilt” and turn a little browner, but you have to stir it occasionally, which is a little bit of a PITA. This takes 20—30 minutes (20 for me.) A few minutes before you’re done add the vinegar. More stirring. I don’t exactly know why and Julia is keeping her own counsel, but I think it’s to deglaze while you’re cooking.

Take the skillet out and move the onions into a bowl or something and let them cool to room temperature. This is your signal to pour a well-deserved beverage.

Now turn the oven up to 425 degrees. Roll out your pre-made, thawed pastry dough and fit it into a 12 X 15 baking sheet with a rim, making a small border around the perimeter. So, picture a (flatbread) pizza. Spoon in and spread the onions, leaving a 1” “no go zone” at the corners. You do this because the onions will want to migrate to the corners, for reasons unknown to me. Arrange the anchovies and the olives on top. See the header image for a good way to do this.

Put this in the oven for 15–25 minutes (mine took 18; I timed it) until the pastry is puffed, crisped, and golden. Remove it from the oven and sprinkle over the chopped thyme and the olive oil.

You could easily make a dinner out of this for 3 or 4, but you are in a social mood so you slice this into rectangles and serve as an appetizer. This makes quite a bit, so it’s good for 6—8, depending on what else is on the menu. I once served this at a party so I cut it into 24 and it transformed into “bar snack.” Julia says serve it warm or room temp.; I serve it warm as an appetizer and room temp as a bar snack.

For the Petites Caisses au Fromage:

This is simplicity itself. 

4 pastry shells (I use Pillsbury) about 3” x 1 1/2”

8 oz. room temp. cream cheese with chives. Use the dreaded Boursin if you want, or 1 bar Philadelphia brand.

1 egg

3 drops Tabasco sauce

6 drops Worcestershire sauce

4 canned artichoke hearts (or frozen hearts, cooked)

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Put the pastry shells in a baking dish, like 8 X 8, but I wouldn’t, and didn’t, let them touch the sides or each other. Beat the cream cheese with the egg and the Tabasco and the Worcestershire. Put a spoonful of cheese in each shell, set an artichoke heart in the center, and cover with remaining cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes in the upper third of oven, until cheese filling has puffed slightly and browned on top.