Food & Cooking Recipes Appetizers Provençal Onion Tart Slivered olives, fresh thyme, and anchovies add zip to this crispy onion tart. Close Prep Time: 25 mins Cook Time: 55 mins Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins Servings: 10 Jump to recipe Our savory onion tart recipe is a quick take on the provençal tart known as pissaladière. Pissaladière is traditionally made with a bread-like crust but we use frozen puff pastry dough for this recipe to help cut down on prep work. After a quick stint in the oven, the crust is topped with a mixture of caramelized onions, fresh thyme, and briny olives, plus the optional addition of anchovies, which provide an umami punch. This tart is excellent for entertaining, it makes a delicious, flavorful appetizer or snack and can be served warm or at room temperature. Do You Want Puff Pastry or Phyllo Dough for That Recipe? Here's How to Choose Ingredients for Provençal Onion Tart Puff pastry: Frozen puff pastry is an all-star ingredient that brings elegance—and flaky layers—to everything from breakfast pastries to pigs in a blanket. Look for an all-butter option if you can as it'll have the best flavor. Most packages of puff pastry contain two sheets, so you'll have an extra leftover for a future recipe. Onions: Sautéing onions until golden and caramelized turns them deliciously sweet, providing a pleasing contrast to the salty olives and anchovies. We recommend using yellow onions for this recipe but you can use white in a pinch. Avoid using a sweet onion like Vidalia, though, as it can become overly sweet when caramelized. Thyme: Fresh thyme lends a fragrant, herby touch to this savory tart. If you can't find any fresh thyme, swap in two teaspoons of dried thyme instead. Olives: We prefer the meaty texture and salty, slightly bitter taste of oil-cured black olives for this recipe, but you can use juicier Niçoise olives or even Kalamata olives in a pinch. Just be sure to pit and slice them first so they're easy to eat. Anchovies: Pissaladière traditionally includes umami-packed anchovies. We love the flavor they contribute, but you can easily omit them if you'd prefer. Alternatively, chop the fillets into smaller pieces before scattering them on top for a more subtle flavor. Working With Puff PastryIt's much easier to work with puff pastry when it's as it tends to tear and stick the warmer and softer it becomes. Additionally, don't apply too much force when rolling it out in step two as doing so can affect its ability to puff up. Directions Heat oven; cook onions: Preheat oven to 425°F. Melt butter with oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and thyme, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are golden and soft, about 10 minutes. Roll out pastry: On a lightly floured surface, roll out pastry to an 8 1/2-by-15-inch rectangle, trimming edges to make them straight. Transfer to oven, reduce temperature, and bake: Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, transfer to oven, and immediately reduce oven temperature to 400°F. Bake until pastry just begins to puff, about 12 minutes. Arrange toppings over pastry; bake 15 minutes: Arrange onions in a single layer over pastry, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Top with olives and anchovies (if desired). Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature and continue to bake: Reduce oven temperature to 375°F, and continue baking until tart is puffed and golden around the edges, about 15 minutes more (tent with foil if crust browns too quickly). Let cool slightly before cutting into small squares and serving. More Puff-Pastry Appetizer Recipes: Puff-Pastry Cheese Straws Gooey Gouda Puff-Pastry Bites Pigs in a Blanket Herb-Cheese Palmiers Baked Brie With Boozy Fruit Beet, Cheddar, and Apple Tarts Updated by Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds is an experienced recipe developer, recipe tester, food editor, and writer with over a decade of experience in the food and media industries.