What you need to do is use more olive oil than you think you should ever consume. This is a rustic dish, after all. A handful of ingredients. Simple. Delicious.
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 pounds onions (you can use leeks but they MUST be softened to an onion-like consistency), cut in slivers or diced. A food processor is a god-send)
4 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (blanch in hot water for 1 minute, then dunk in ice water so the skins break and peel off easily, or grate the tomatoes raw and then sieve with your hands to remove as many of the seeds as possible – leave a little juice. It’s just the seeds you don’t really want. Don’t seat it, though, if there are still seeds)
Some thyme
1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
salt and pepper
1/4 – 1/2 cup olives (or anchovies or red peppers strips)
1 eight-inch pizza dough or pie crust or just pita bread or naan bread (pie crust is easier, and it doesn’t matter if it’s beautiful or crumbly or rips, but it won’t be as fluffy as pizza dough. You can also buy frozen dough, but in that case (unless it’s from a respectable bakery such as Première Moisson) you should really just throw together a pie dough and keep all the preservatives out of your body). For a real treat, use puff pastry. You don’t even need to grease the pie plate, there’s so much butter…mmm…
Directions:
Heat the oil in an enormous frying pan over medium heat, and when hot, add the onions and cook about 15-20 minutes. If the pan gets dry add a tbsp or so of water, reduce the heat to medium-low, and even cover them, and before you go to the next step, test an onion by biting it to make sure it’s actually softened. If you have to chew and crunch they’re not done. 20 minutes minimum. Just suck it up and wait. I’m thinking ENORMOUS frying pan next time.
You can also do this in two batches or with two frying pans to get the onions to cook faster and more evenly.
Finally, when you can’t wait any longer and the leeks are softened, add the 4 seeded, peeled and chopped tomatoes, some fresh thyme or some dried (a small sprinkle, a big sprinkle, as you wish), some minced garlic (about 1 clove, but 2 is great), and salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes more.
Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
Now pour the whole thing on top of the pizza dough, pie dough, or flatbread dough. Don’t forget to oil the dish before you put the pizza dough/bread dough in or you’ll never get to eat that dough. Mine got stuck and I scraped and I scraped and it never got eaten. Such a waste.
Into the oven for 25 minutes, or until you figure it’s done and the sides of the dough haven’t burned. You can also brush the top of the leek/onion mixture with olive oil so it browns a little. Optionally top the tart with anchovies (or other sustainable smoked fish), olives or red pepper strips (preferably roasted, though the 25 minutes will go a long way toward roasting them) before popping in the oven. The salt from the olives or anchovies collapses into the leeks, so at least it’s properly seasoned.
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