Puff Pissaladiere

Pissaladière is similar to Italian pizza but made in the South of France. It differs in that the dough is not spread with a tomato sauce and it is not topped with cheese. We have made a quicker version using puff pastry.

Serves 6-8

Dietary: Vegan

Ingredients

200g puff pastry,

1 aubergine,
1 red pepper,
1 courgette,
sprig of thyme and sage,
1 large beef tomato,
4 tbsp pistou,
a few basil leaves,
1 tbsp pinenuts,
1 tbsp black olives,
salt and pepper,
olive oil for roasting

Method:

Heat oven to 180C.

Slice the aubergine into thin circles, brush with oil and roast until soft.

Slice the red pepper and courgette and mix with the thyme and sage, olive oil and roast until starting to soften.

Thinly slice the tomato.

Roll out the puff pastry to 1 cm thickness and put on a large baking tray. Brush the base with half the pistou. Arrange the aubergines over one third, the basil and roasted pepper and courgette over one third and the tomato over one third. Brush with pistou, sprinkle the pinenuts and black olives over the top. Bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes until the pastry is puffed up and golden.

Pistou

French pistou differs from Italian pesto as it doesn’t contain pinenuts or parmesan.

Dietary: Vegan

Ingredients

large bunch of basil and or parsley, stalks removed

4 cloves garlic

olive oil

salt and pepper

Method

Crush the garlic and basil or parsley together in a pestle and mortar, or in a blender.

Add olive oil drop by drop until you have a thick green sauce. Season well.